The Manchester United striker is edging ever closer to a move to Fenerbahce having perhaps not accumulated the silverware to match his sublime talents in England
Scroll far enough down the list of the players with a Premier League winner's medal and eventually you find him. He is below David May and Raimond van der Gouw, John Obi Mikel and Joleon Lescott, tied with Clayton Blackmore and Jiri Jarosik, Stefan Savic and Luke Chadwick.
But he is there. Robin van Persie was a champion in 2013. It is the only time he won the title and, as he heads for Fenerbahce, it will remain so. He was an FA Cup-winning substitute in 2005, too, but he only has two major honours to show for his 11 years in England. A man who long voiced his admiration for Ryan Giggs lacks a comparable medal collection.
Look at the leaderboard of Premier League goalscorers and he is inside the top 10. Yet if Alan Shearer's overall record falls, it will be to Wayne Rooney, not Van Persie. Rooney displaced him from the Manchester United team last season. Jermain Defoe could overtake him in the all-time scoring charts inside 18 months. A claim to greatness is being diminished.
And as Van Persie departs, it is with his status up for debate. Does he belong in the Premier League pantheon, alongside Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Eric Cantona, Gianfranco Zola and Didier Drogba among the iconic imports, the fearsome forwards who brought goals and class? Or is he in the next tier, with men such as Carlos Tevez, Nicolas Anelka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, those who may be deemed very good but not quite great?
A CV featuring too little silverware suggests the latter. Van Persie had the gift of timing when striking a football, but not in a broader sense.
The enfant terrible who matured into the elder statesman had an unfortunate capacity to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Arsenal emerged from austerity and started spending after Van Persie's sale. United plunged into transition and then turmoil a year after his arrival. Between them, they won 12 trophies in the last 11 years. Van Persie was at the wrong club to pick up 10 of those honours.
But the individual accolades tell a tale of his quality. He is the only player to win the Golden Boot in successive seasons with different clubs. He was the double Footballer of the Year in 2012 and, despite Gareth Bale's virtuosity, deserved to retain his awards because of the way he shaped the following season.
And while he scored 144 Premier League goals, a tally topped only by Henry among foreigners, Van Persie should never be judged solely by the statistics. They cannot show the style. He had the audacity to attempt the improbable and the skill to pull it off.
A highlights DVD of his English years should contain a remarkable range of goals. He was the volleyer extraordinaire, a long-range specialist plying his trade, after he became an out-and-out forward, in the realm of the penalty-box poachers.
At his peak, he was that rare combination of great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals. At his best, between 2011 and 2013, he rivalled any striker in Premier League history, with the possible exception of the unparalleled Henry.
Like his former Arsenal colleague, Van Persie brought artistry to a profession where the ends usually justify the means. Neither, in his mentality nor his upbringing, was a traditional striker – they lacked the selfishness – but they scored at the same rate as the best of the single-minded goal-getters.
Van Persie may have only won one league title, but few have ever made such a catalytic contribution to clinch the crown. One who started at Arsenal as Bergkamp's heir started to draw comparisons with Cantona in his debut season at Old Trafford. He became ubiquitous in the biggest games, delivering whenever it mattered to ensure Sir Alex Ferguson could retire a winner. It rendered his swift decline all the more surprising. He seemed one of the shining parts of the Scot's legacy.
Yet another mentor, Louis van Gaal, dropped Van Persie and will sell him. When he moves to Fenerbahce, United, who paid £24 million three years ago, will end up writing off around £20 million on the transfer fee. Factor in sizeable wages and Van Persie has probably cost United around £55 million.
Was he worth it? For those who judge transfers purely by profit and loss, no. Yet if United could pay £55m for a player who would win them the league now, they would. They forked out £152m on transfer fees alone and only finished fourth in May. By the standards of the exorbitant sums the superpowers spend, Van Persie looks a bargain. His impact was concentrated in one season, but he can be classed as Ferguson's last outstanding signing.
But was it worth it for him? Van Persie alienated the Arsenal fans who adored him. There will be no statue of him outside the Emirates Stadium now. His was perhaps the most acrimonious transfer since Sol Campbell left Tottenham for Arsenal. He secured the elusive title but his remaining two years in Manchester were an anti-climax.
He leaves United when Arsenal have been the superior side for successive seasons. He will not join the ranks of the Old Trafford old-timers, playing on in red long into his footballing dotage. A July exit denies him the grand farewell some of the division's luminaries were afforded in May.
The final weeks of Steven Gerrard's Liverpool career offered many a chance for an appraisal of the departing midfielder. Legend or nearly man? As far as the Premier League was concerned, Gerrard was both.
So, because of his brilliance at his best, was Van Persie.
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