When it came to telling his son Shaqueel, it was a difficult conversation as the youngster wondered if it meant Wayne Rooney, one of his favourite players, was joining the Gunners.
Instead the pair teamed up to devastating effect at Old Trafford, helping fire the team to Premier League glory in 2012/13.
When presenter Sam Homewood brought up van Persie's suggestion at the press conference unveiling his signing that the 'little boy inside' was screaming for him to move to United, the Dutchman replied: “Maybe I could have chosen different words. What I meant to say, from my point of view, was [about] when you have to make a difficult decision - and it was a very difficult decision if you add up everything because the last few months were very difficult for me and my family as well at home.