Former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has a new job in football after a coaching role at Feyenoord in his native Netherlands.

The Dutchman scored over 130 goals in 278 appearances for the Gunners between 2004 and 2012. He completed a controversial move to rivals Manchester United in August 2012, lifting the Premier League title in his debut campaign at Old Trafford.

Van Persie then went on to join Turkish club Fenerbahce in 2015 before returning to the Netherlands where he joined Feyenoord in 2018. The striker retired from football in 2019.

And the 40-year-old has now been appointed as head coach of SC Heerenveen in the Dutch Eredivisie. The former Gunners forward has signed a two-year deal.

"The coaching profession is comprehensive and challenging, and I practice it with great passion and pleasure," he said via the club's website. "I would like to continue my development and the role of head coach fits in perfectly with that goal.

"I am therefore pleased with the opportunity that SC Heerenveen offers me. Sc Heerenveen is a very nice club with a rich tradition and loyal supporters. It is a fantastic challenge to contribute to the sporting ambitions and development of the club as head coach."

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When asked in 2019 about the circumstances surrounding his move from Arsenal to United, Van Persie claimed that the club refused to offer him a new contract.

"If Arsenal are not offering you a new deal, you can have different views about things," he said in 2019. "The fact is Arsenal didn't offer me a deal, what do you do then. So what do you do?

"You have a look around, I was ambitious, I still wanted to win the league. That is life. Basically, I ended up having three options. One option abroad disappeared quickly so it was City or United.

"What people don't know during a transfer or a marriage is behind the scenes there a lot of things fans don't see, loads of thing are happening. You have to make a choice based on what your targets are and deal with the facts.

"One of the main issues or facts is that possibly Arsenal got tired of me. For whatever reason, that was the starting point, they didn't offer me a new deal. We had loads of chats, chats with Wenger, with Gazidis, with my colleagues. It was part of the long process of actually leaving.

"During that process, we both disagreed on a couple of things, which doesn't matter, it happens in marriage as well. just got the feeling that we would not come together. That was the moment I had to say, what are my options."