Edwin van der Sar: 'Arsenal now a selling club'

By Subhankar Mondal, Reporter | 04 January 2013

Edwin van der Sar says that Robin van Persie's departure to Manchester United last summer shows that Arsenal are now a selling club.

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar believes that Arsenal have become a selling club.

The 42-year-old cites his Dutch compatriot Robin van Persie leaving the Gunners for Manchester United last summer as a prime example.

"I'm not surprised that he went there," he told the BBC's World Football programme. "It's a club used to winning titles and the last eight years Robin hasn't won that much at Arsenal.

"I love the style of football and even the philosophy of Wenger with the young players. We've got a similar feeling at Ajax. We want to educate them in a certain way to learn how to play good football and attacking football.

"At a certain time in their career, they want to look somewhere else. They need to go abroad to a bigger league. This has happened at Arsenal also over the last couple of years. A lot of players went and became even bigger players at other clubs."

Van der Sar currently works as the sporting director at the Dutch club.