In the aftermath of Manchester City ‘s dramatic title triumph in 2012, Sir Alex Ferguson turned to Van Persie.
The Dutchman was charged with restoring the status of United at the top of English football, and he emphatically delivered it.
Van Persie would go on to play in all 38 games of United’s title-winning campaign and regain the Golden Boot he had earned with a league-high 26 goals at Arsenal the previous season.
His goals contributed 27 points to United’s overall points tally in his first season at Old Trafford, a statistic only improved by Alan Shearer in 1993/94 where his goals won 32 points for Blackburn.
With just 90 seconds on the clock, Van Persie tapped United into the lead from close range, before emphatically volleying his second home from the long diagonal of Wayne Rooney within a quarter of an hour.
And a first-half hat-trick, a 3-0 victory and the title were sealed inside 33 minutes with a strike off the post, after showing great composure in the box.
Seven years ago, after Van Persie’s heroics, as the title celebrations were held on the Old Trafford pitch, Sky Sports commentator Alan Parry posed a question that now resonates more than it did at the time, ‘Will we ever see their like again?
Two weeks after taking the title back, Ferguson returned to his glittering reign at Old Trafford to spell the end of an period of dominance that the Premier League and United have not seen since.
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