Ruud Gullit has backed former Arsenal captain Robin van Persie to manage Manchester United ‘at some point’.

Van Persie established himself as one of Arsenal’s greatest ever goalscorers after being signed by Arsene Wenger in 2004.

The Netherlands international scored 132 goals in 278 games for the Gunners, including Arsenal’s most in a Premier League season and calendar year.

After a breakdown in his relationship with Arsenal bosses, Van Persie completed a controversial move to Manchester United in 2012 and enjoyed three productive seasons at Old Trafford.

His 30-goal campaign in his first year at United helped Sir Alex Ferguson’s side win the Premier League title and saw him bag a second consecutive Golden Boot award.

As an integral member of the last Manchester United side to lift the Premier League trophy, Van Persie is still remembered fondly at Old Trafford.

His compatriot Gullit, a former Ballon d’Or winner, believes Van Persie has developed into a ‘great manager’ since hanging up his boots and ‘hopes’ he takes charge of the Red Devils ‘one day’.

Van Persie, 43, began his managerial career at Eredivisie side Heerenveen and has been at Dutch giants Feyenoord since the start of 2025.

‘It would be great if Robin van Persie became the manager of Manchester United in the future,’ Gullit told Gambling Insider. ‘I definitely hope that happens at some point!

‘Robin is a great manager, but he’s struggling a little bit at Feyenoord at the moment. I feel like the expectations for him are very high because of the career he had, so he’s under the spotlight a lot more than other managers in the Eredivisie.

‘He’s under fire over here in Holland at the moment, but I hope he’s given time to rectify it and prove how good he is.

‘Look what happened with Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United – they kept him, and look how good he ended up being!

‘Down the line however, I think it would be great for Robin to manage at Old Trafford one day.’

Manchester United will appoint Ruben Amorim’s permanent replacement in the summer after sacking the Portuguese boss last month.

Michael Carrick was placed in temporary charge of United and has overseen four successive wins to take the club back into the Champions League places.

Manchester United beat ten-man Tottenham 2-0 on Saturday and return to Premier League action on Tuesday night against relegation-battlers West Ham.

United could only draw 1-1 with West Ham when the two teams last met in one of Amorim’s last games before his sacking. (Metro)