Former Arsenal favourite lands first major managerial job as deal agreed 'in principle'

A former Arsenal favourite looks to have landed a big job just a matter of months after taking his first steps into management. Robin van Persie has been working as a manager since May of 2024, taking over Heerenveen in his home country, the Netherlands.

Since taking over, he has managed nine wins in his first 26 games in charge, losing 11 times, and Heerenveen are currently ninth in the Eredivisie table, which is in the dead centre.

Eredivisie giants Feyenoord have been on the lookout for a new manager, and they have decided to turn to their former striker to fill the void, and that’s despite interim boss Pascal Bossschaart guiding them through a Champions League knockout playoff with AC Milan this week, winning 2-1 on aggregate to produce an upset.

Brian Priske was the man who was sacked to open up the vacancy, with Feyenoord taking the decision last week having found themselves in fourth spot in the league table. They are currently 14 points off leaders Ajax and 12 points off PSV in the Champions League spot. They currently occupy a Conference League spot, and they are three points behind Utrecht in the Europa League spot.

According to The Athletic, Feyenoord have now agreed a deal ‘in principle’ to appoint van Persie as boss, with the striker returning to the club six years after he finished his career there as a player. The 41-year-old also started his career with the club ahead of joining Arsenal in 2004.

As Gunners fans will remember, van Persie was a sensation with the Gunners, scoring 96 goals in 194 league games, but he soured his efforts when he joined Manchester United in 2012, also enjoying a successful spell there ahead of joining Fenerbahce and then Feyenoord. His current assistant, Rene Hake, is set to join him at his new club, but the risk of appointing such an inexperienced manager is not lost on Feyenoord, who are only offering a contract until the end of the season.