'At Tottenham, I went to Feyenoord to see Robin van Persie. He came on as a sub, shirt out of his shorts, socks rolled down, looking a mess’: How Spurs missed out on signing 144-goal Premier League great
Tottenham passed up the opportunity to sign Robin van Persie in 2004 when their director of football was left unimpressed by he Dutchman
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tottenham Hotspur missed out on signing Robin van Persie while he was just a teenager, with former director of football David Pleat unimpressed by how the Dutchman looked when coming on during a game for Feyenoord.
Van Persie ultimately ended up moving to Arsenal, with that decision having stuck in the mind of Pleat.
Pleat spent 26 years as a manager, taking charge of the likes of Luton Town, Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday and Tottenham Hotspur. Towards the end of his career, Pleat moved upstairs to become the Spurs director of football - with two stints as caretaker boss and one season in the dugout at White Hart Lane, too.
How Tottenham missed out on signing Robin van Persie
Van Persie at Feyenoord in 2003 (Image credit: Getty Images)
During his time, Pleat missed out on a couple of high-profile signings, though failing to recognise the talent of Robin van Persie still sticks in his mind. When asked who he regrets not signing during his career in football, Pleat highlights a few high-profile stars alongside Van Persie.
"At Tottenham, John Barnes’ agent told me he was leaving Watford: £750,000," Pleat exclusively tells FourFourTwo. "But I had Waddle and Hoddle. I didn’t take Barnes and he went to Liverpool.
Pleat missed out on a number of big players (Image credit: Getty Images)
"At Luton we had Stuart Pearce training for a week with the reserves when he was at Wealdstone; I asked the coach what he was like and he said, 'OK.' I should’ve played him in an 11 vs 11 and made everyone play properly: then we would have seen his character.
"Then as a director of football, at Tottenham, I went to Feyenoord to see Robin van Persie. He came on as a sub, shirt out of his shorts, socks rolled down, looking a right mess. Steve Rowley at Arsenal had decided not to sign him, but they went for a second look and decided to take a chance."
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Indeed, in the summer of 2004 Arsenal signed Van Persie for £2.75m, converting him from a left winger into a centre-forward. That proved a masterstroke from Arsene Wenger, with Van Persie going on to score 132 goals in 278 games for the Gunners prior to his move to Manchester United in 2012.
In total, Van Persie ended up scoring 148 Premier League goals during his 11 years in England, winning the Premier League and FA Cup in that time, too. For Pleat, failing to take a second look at the young Dutchman for Feyenoord was clearly a mistake.
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
