Van Persie: "[Kompany] was convinced that I could help him with Anderlecht."
Sunday 26 January 2020 12:38, UK
Robin van Persie has revealed that Vincent Kompany attempted to talk him out of retirement to sign for Anderlecht.
The approach to Van Persie was made following the Dutchman's eye-catching performance in Kompany's Manchester City testimonial match at the Etihad in September.
Kompany was at the time still player-manager at Anderlecht side and was impressed by 36-year-old Van Persie's performance for a Premier League All Stars XI.
The former Arsenal and Manchester United striker had only retired a few months earlier, scoring 18 goals in 31 appearances in a farewell season for his boyhood club Feyenoord.
"That was a wonderful evening. Old-fashioned enjoyment with only top players on the field," van Persie told HLN.
"After 70 minutes I started getting pain everywhere, but I didn't want to leave that field. The next day Kompany called me. He was convinced that I could help him with Anderlecht.
"I saw it as a nice compliment that he approached me, but I woke up that morning with pain in my calves and knew that I should not start it (playing) anymore."
