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Manchester United's Robin van Persie: 'I needed a new challenge'

By Subhankar Mondal, Reporter | 22 January 2013

Robin van Persie says that he is "really happy" at Manchester United and reveals that he left Arsenal as he needed "a new challenge".

Robin van Persie has said that he left Arsenal for Manchester United last summer because he needed "a new challenge".

The 29-year-old Dutch striker played for the Gunners for eight years and won the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield.

"Arsenal is a great club and I always had a really good feeling, but after eight years sometimes you feel that you need a new challenge," The Guardian quotes him as saying. "I know why I went and I'm sure it's for good reasons.

"If you look at the last couple of months, it explains it all. I'm seeing things again that I didn't see for a long time.

"When I first came to Arsenal years ago [in 2004], I saw things from [Dennis] Bergkamp and Thierry Henry I'd never seen in my life before. Now I'm seeing those things again and that makes me really happy."

Van Persie added that he feels "like a kid in a sweet shop" at United.

"It's like a kid in a sweet shop," he said. "It's like, 'Yes, this is nice, this is good, this is having fun, this is enjoying yourself.'

"All these little things added together make a big difference. It makes me feel that I'm surrounded by champions."

Van Persie has scored 18 goals in 23 Premier League matches for United so far this season.