Van Persie wanted Chiellini at Arsenal; 'Giorgio is a genuine winner'
Former Arsenal and Man Utd striker felt the Gunners were frail at the back and made proposals to his coach that were overlooked
Robin van Persie
has uncovered he approached
Arsene Wenge
r to bring
Giorgio Chiellini
to Arsenal as he felt the club "lacked a winning mentality."
The Dutchman, who went through eight years at the Gunners however neglected to get his hands on the
Premier Leaguetrophy with the club, was persuaded Arsenal came up short on the resolution to contend at the top finish of the table.
He felt Chiellini would have changed the club and urged Wenger to make a move on the Italian full-back, yet Chiellini never showed up in north London and is currently in his fifteenth year at Turin's Old Lady.
"At a given moment I felt called upon to say what Arsenal could do better in order to win the league,” he said in an interview on Kaj Gorgels' YouTube channel.
"I felt we lacked a winning mentality, and asked Arsene Wenger to sign Giorgio Chiellini.”
Chiellini is a good old, sturdy defender and Van Persie feels those attributes were what Arsenal required.
"I have played against him a few times, and he is a genuine winner,” Van Persie said. "You could see that when he played against Holland a few weeks ago.
"He is 36 years old, but he'll dish out nine elbows every game with a smile on his face. He'll keep smiling and never get a yellow card.
"You need those types of winners and killers in your side. I felt we should get him.”
Van Persie claims he set forward different names to Wenger to improve Arsenal's defense line, yet was left baffled and concedes his transition to Manchester United in 2012 was to win titles - which he did in 2013.
"I came up with suggestions and names on the basis of my own experience,” he added. “We were very good up front, and scored lots of goals. But your goalkeeper and your defence are the basis of your team.
"To my mind ours were not at the level needed to truly compete for the title.
“My departure from Arsenal to Manchester United is still a sensitive topic in England.
“I wanted to win, I just wanted to win. And I had to take a risk for that.”
DISCLAIMER! Sportmob does not claim ownership of any of the pictures posted on this website. Again, we do not host pictures or videos ourselves. Our authors merely link to the rightful owner. Lastly, Sportmob have carefully considered and reviewed all of its content. Despite that, it is possible that some information might be out-dated or incomplete.