This is it for Vivianne Miedema in London. After 7 years and 4 trophies with Arsenal, the Dutch striker has finally moved on and has joined WSL rivals Manchester City.
And for many Gooners, this has made her public enemy No.1, just like Robin van Persie of yesteryear.
After signing with City, Miedema had the customary introductory interview with the club’s social media team.
Miedema was asked about her favourite player growing up and she revealed it was the former Arsenal star, Robin van Persie.
Since then, a vile reaction from Arsenal fans was noticeable on social media.
According to many Arsenal faithful, she is a ‘snake’ just like her idol RVP.
The word snake is thrown around in the footy world to describe a person being disloyal to the former club by chasing glory.
Manchester City, being one of the top rivals apart from Chelsea, it was understandable for such comparisons to be pasted on Miedema’s move.
During Van Persie’s time, Arsenal often found themselves one step behind the leading pack. He led Arsenal in goals season after season only to meet with disappointment.
So in 2012, it was time for van Persie to make his move. Loyalty or glory? And as history suggests, he chose the latter.
On August 17 that year, van Persie was holding a Manchester United jersey, an image that scarred the Arsenal fans for life. Since then they’ve treated RVP as a snake, but that was unfair, according to the Dutchman.
‘I get that, but I can promise you on my kids if someone comes with proof that Arsenal offered me a deal, I will give you a million [pounds] now, today. It was Arsenal’s decision not to offer me a deal and that is up to them. After many conversations, it became clear that we had different ideas about the club,’ van Persie said in the High Performance Podcast.
To make things worse, van Persie won the Premier League just after joining United and by the time he visited the Emirates stadium with his new team, the Red Devils were a champion and Arsenal begrudgingly had to give him a guard of honour.
The similarities are striking between Vivianne and RVP, but the case for Miedema was different.
Unlike van Persie’s £24 million move, there was no transfer fee involved in Miedema’s switch. Arsenal let her walk out of the door for free after deciding against an extension with the WSL’s top scorer.
‘Obviously, I would’ve really, really liked to end the story in a different way, but in the end, I think I had to prioritise myself in this decision, and for some people, it’ll be hard to understand. Others will be like, yeah, I fully get what you decided to do,’ Miedema said after her exit.
Hence, comparing their circumstances, Miedema was nothing like van Persie, despite the striking similarities in the logistical department.
Miedema solidified her status as one of the best players to ever grace the pitch in the women’s team kit by scoring 125 goals and providing 50 assists in 172 appearances for Arsenal.
But knowing football fans, we can assume those snake tags would remain for some time to come.
