Feyenoord reached agreement with Heerenveen to appoint former Arsenal legendary forward Robin van Persie as its new head coach..

The Athletic's resident renowned English transfer journalist David Ornstein, reported exclusively on Thursday that Feyenoord has reached an agreement with Heerenveen to appoint former Arsenal legendary Netherlands international forward Robin van Persie as its new head coach.

According to Ornstein's report, Van Persie has agreed in principle to become Feyenoord's head coach, and former Arsenal Dutch assistant coach Rene Hake will also join the club as his assistant.

Currently, both have reached a preliminary agreement with Feyenoord, and both have agreed to sign a short-term two-and-a-half-year deal with the club which will only run until the summer of 2027.

Next, after signing contracts and pay the release clause to Heerenveen, Van Persie and Hake can be officially announced as Feyenoord's new head coach and assistant coach respectively.

If it succeeds, this will mean that Van Persie will be returning to coach at Feyenoord after a year. After retiring in the summer of 2019, Van Persie was appointed by Feyenoord as its U18 head coach and first-team forward coach the following year.

Two weeks ago, Feyenoord suddenly announced that former Danish head coach Brian Priske was sacked due to inconsistent performances and loss of trust from the players.

Later, its U21s head coach Pascal Bosschaart was appointed as the first-team interim head coach, and recently led the team to a surprise victory over AC Milan with an aggregate score of 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16s knockout play-offs.

About Robin Van Persie

Robin Van Persie, 41, was born on August 6, 1983 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He is 1.83 meters tall and primarily plays as a center forward, but can also play as a left winger.

Van Persie joined the Excelsior youth academy at the age of 5, moved to Feyenoord's youth academy in 1999 and completed his Feyenoord first-team debut in a UEFA Cup match against Rangers in February 2002.

During his two-year spell at Feyenoord, Van Persie won the UEFA Cup once and reached the KNVB Cup final with the club once.

In May 2004, Van Persie joined Arsenal for £2.75 million.

During his eight-year spell at the Gunners, Van Persie won the English Community Shield once, the English FA Cup once, as well as reaching the UEFA Champions League final once and the English League Cup final once with the club.

In August 2012, Van Persie moved to the arch-rivals Manchester United for £24 million. At the time, he was regarded as a traitor by Arsenal fans because he rationalized his reason for joining the Red Devils by saying "I heard the little boy in me screaming "join Manchester United".

Despite this, during his three-year spell with the Red Devils, Van Persie won the Premier League once and the English Community Shield once with his outstanding performance. This was also the last league title won by Manchester United before its legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

In July 2015, Van Persie joined Fenerbahçe for £3.84 million.

During his two-and-a-half-year spell at Sarı Kanaryalar, Van Persie won the Turkish Süper Lig once with the club.

In January 2018, Van Persie returned to Feyenoord as a free agent, and won the Eredivisie with the club during this spell.

As mentioned above, after Van Persie retired in the summer of 2019, he was appointed by Feyenoord as the head coach of its U18 teams and the first team forward coach the following year.

In the summer of 2024, Van Persie replaced Dutch coach Kees van Wonderen who was appointed as the head coach of Schalke 04, as Heerenveen's new head coach.

So far this season, Van Persie has managed Heerenveen in 26 games across all competitions, achieving 9 wins, 6 draws and 11 losses, with a win percentage of only 34.62%, but he unexpectedly led the club into the Round of 16s of the KNVB Cup and temporarily ranked 9th on the Eredivisie table.