Robin van Persie has revealed that his son Shaqueel didn't grasp his move to Manchester United at first despite the excitement of seeing his dad team up with Wayne Rooney.
The Dutchman made the move to Old Trafford in 2012 after a PFA Player of the Year season at Arsenal.
Van Persie scored 37 times in all competitions but with his contract winding down was captured by United in a £24m deal.
The striker had spent eight years in north London, where his family were settled, before making the move north.
And when Van Persie told his son that him and Rooney were set to be team-mates he thought that meant the Englishman was heading to Arsenal.
He told the Utd podcast : “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.
“At one point, I told Shaqueel, who was a fan of Wayne Rooney, I said: 'Do you like the idea of me playing together with Rooney?' He said: 'Yeah, is he coming to Arsenal?'.
“I said: 'No, no, no. We are going there.
“He said: 'But that's far away, a different city.' He was quite young then and said: 'I have friends at school and I am happy here.' So he was not too happy about it, he was not too keen.
“With the kids, after three or four days in Manchester, they had new friends and are going so fast. They were really happy in Manchester.
"A lot of people told me, friends in London, they asked why was I going to live in Manchester? It'll be difficult, they said, it's really that bad and always raining - the classic story about Manchester.
“I said: 'Okay, but I want to make the move. I'm doing it.'"
