Robin van Persie could fly

When a player retires, the expression used is "hang up the boots". The main instrument through which the talent of the football player is expressed is not answered in a chest of drawers, it is not thrown away; no, it is hung, suspended in the air, in space and in time, as if to freeze a moment. His absolute best time, possibly.

Of memorable moments, however, there are several in some careers. And usually these moments, at least for an attacker, coincide with the goals. It is that, their legacy: a bag full of balls previously thrown into another much more important bag, namely the opposing net. Today, the day after his retirement, Robin van Persie's basket is packed.

While the Dutch striker is busy hanging up his boots, we take advantage of this moment of his distraction and choose the best balloons from the basket, like we do with fruit and vegetables when we go shopping. Here are some of the most iconic networks drawn from Robin van Persie's brilliant career, divided by teams in which he played:

#1 Feyenoord (part one)

The extraordinary relationship of van Persie with the goal, which led him to score as much and more or less as possible, started from far away. He took his first steps in the Excelsior, a sort of satellite club for Feyenoord, who then decided to take the boy at the age of 16 to have him join the club's youth team.

Then the first team, in a locker room with which Van Persie didn't really have an idyllic relationship. His overflowing and perhaps brazen character ("but never arrogant," he says) led him to clash with some seniors. The same character, however, also led him to goals like this: the Dutchman began to refine the art of volley shooting, a sort of fil rouge in his aesthetics.

#2 Arsenal

In the summer of 2004, van Persie switched to Arsenal and his career experienced a turning point: Wenger put him at the center of the Gunners' attack, enhancing the qualities of an extraordinary player, able to kick with both feet without difficulty, to read the opposing defenses, to take the right decision to throw the ball behind the goalkeeper.

The Dutchman, in 2012, after a long maturation path in Arsenal, managed to win the Premier League scorer (with 30 goals to his credit), and during the 8 years he spent in London he established himself as one of the greatest attackers on the international stage. Also thanks to goals like this:

#3 Manchester United

As mentioned, volley has always been a constant for van Persie, who has made the art of anticipating football one of his best qualities. Superb ballistic skills, which obviously also emerged with the Red Devils shirt.

In his first season with Manchester United, van Persie scored 26 goals, winning the top scorer for the second consecutive year and helping the team win the Premier League. Ultimately, a player decidedly out of the ordinary, who scored several goals out of the ordinary. For example:

#4 Fenerbahçe

During his long career, van Persie came to touch the Turkish shores, playing with Fenerbahçe for three years and also imposing his leadership there, despite the fact that the years began to weigh on his back.

His left foot, however, has always remained the same. To tell this period, to photograph it and hang it on the wall near the shoes, it may be useful to take another important arrow in the Dutch quiver as a reference: the free kick. Like Thanos, with one shirt or the other, van Persie from his tile has always been simply inevitable.

#5 Feyenoord (second part)

More years pass, the same talent remains: Robin van Persie closes the circle after a very long lap and returns to Feyenoord, where everything, or almost, had begun. He takes up the number 32, takes his tile and shoots with his left.

A story that is all there, in the inexorable parables that are bagged in the door, in the trajectories drawn in the field ("his personal canvas") by him who is the son of a painter. We will not see any more, of paintings like these, and then we just have to enjoy the installations and watch in loop the most beautiful goals of an amazing footballer.

Bonus - Netherlands

Speaking of van Persie, it is difficult not to mention his perhaps most famous goal, certainly more pop. He made it in 2014, during the World Cup in Brazil, in a 5-1 at the limits of the absurd trimmed to the defending champion Spain. 

A header that will remain in the annals, an incredible play to anticipate everyone. A parable that probably only van Persie could have imagined. A great flight, perhaps the most beautiful, of a player out of the ordinary. 

But how to remember him now? Well, like this: