When Robin van Persie joined Manchester United in the summer of 2012, my immediate reaction was anger. That’s because I’m Arsenal fan. Another captain sold and our last ‘world class’ player, even if not by the standards of the man poaching him away, was to join a bitter rival.

Living the majority of my life in London and Surrey, a high percentage of my friends are Manchester United fans. Previous departures of very good players from Arsenal to Manchester City had me annoyed, but I didn’t have to suffer any personal jibes, as most Manchester City fans actually live in Manchester.

Nevertheless, van Persie’s departure came at a time in my life where supporting Arsenal had taken its emotional toll and I had to make a promise to myself to not let Arsenal’s goings on dictate my mood. Easier said than done, but I was trying.

My new outlook drove me to become more understanding of Robin’s move rather than spend my summer in anger. To do this, I took the frustration I had been feeling as a fan of my team and put myself in the position of how disheartening that would be as the best striker in the country. Aged 29, Alex Ferguson offered van Persie a Premier League medal and delivered on that promise.

From then on, although I didn’t quite keep my promise of feeling no ill towards van Persie, I did feel he had justified his decision as Arsenal again finished fourth that very season.

But fast forward to October 2015, as the Dutchman, on his 100th cap for the Oranje, heads into his own goal to end all hope of his country of qualifying for next summer’s European Championships. Now I ask, did that move give Robin one good year and then effectively end his career?

After seeing his nation out of the European Championships, van Persie returned to warming the bench for Fernabache alongside fellow ex-Red Devil Nani and current Liverpool winger Lazar Markovic. Van Persie spent three years at Old Trafford before his move to Turkey but will only be remembered for his first. That’s because of two things. Firstly, he blasted them to the league title with 26 goals, including two hat-tricks and, secondly, the next two years were bland and forgettable to say the very least.

The start of the end of a superb talent was the exit of Alex Ferguson from Manchester United. Ferguson leaving was a devastating blow for van Persie. In the words of Rio Ferdinand, Ferguson’s retirement “took the wind out of everyone’s sails… the person it hit more than anyone was Robin.”

The 2013/14 season saw David Moyes come and go as a typically injury hit van Persie manage just 21 games an 12 goals. It seemed like a match made in Dutch heaven when Louis van Gaal arrived – fresh from taking Holland to third place in the World Cup, captained by van Persie – was the man chosen to lead Old Trafford. Although an unpredictable man, not many would’ve predicted van Gaal would have parted with van Persie a year later.

So what could’ve been if the Dutchman had stayed put at Arsenal? The season after his departure a certain Mesut Ozil joined the Gunners, but he struggled to find someone to pass it to ahead of him. The next year saw Alexis Sanchez join, and the missing piece in the Gunner’s puzzle seemed to be a world class centre forward. Van Persie would argue his injury history and Arsenal’s years of finishing just short of the mark didn’t allow him any more time to wait at Arsenal.

He was has a unique talent, where he is effective either by subtle or explosive means. A delicate chip, a long range screamer and a simple tap in are all likely when he plays. It is sad that at the end of his career he will not be cherished by a club the way his talent deserves. Not every footballer’s career will end with a Steven Gerrard style goodbye, but if van Persie had stayed at Arsenal it would have ended that way.

Robin van Persie can always point to his Premier League medal if questioned on his decision to leave Arsenal to Manchester United. In the summer of 2004, when RVP joined Arsenal, he was joining a Premier League winning team known as the ‘Invincibles’. He gave eight, albeit injury hit, years to Arsenal trying to emulate that team.

In fact, for RVP’s 11 seasons in English football, he has only one league title, an FA Cup for Arsenal and two Community Shield wins to show for. For a player of his quality, that’s a crying shame. Which is why, in hindsight, Arsenal fans must understand why he moved on.

Will he be remembered as a one season wonder for United? A traitor for Arsenal? That own goal for Holland?

In time I would hope Robin Van Persie will be regarded as one of the great Premier League talents. If it wasn’t for injuries and an Emirates Stadium bill, there’d be an RVP statue in North London.

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As Raheem Sterling netted three goals past a helpless Bournemouth on Saturday, he gave Manchester City a glimpse into the future – a future they invested the best part of £50million in during the summer.

Indeed, City paid that seismic sum knowing it was for world-class potential rather than world-class talent and his performance against the Cherries was the first significant piece of evidence to suggest they’ve spent wisely.

Two of the England international’s goals were relatively routine but his second of the afternoon was something truly special; a double-fake inside the box, leaving Steve Cook and Sylvain Distin on their backsides, before rolling the ball past the equally tangled Adam Federici. It was the kind of goal you’d expect from City’s star striker Sergio Aguero or, dare I say it, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

Yet Sterling’s hat-trick must be put into context and Bournemouth represent the weakest level of opposition City will face at home this season. That’s no disrespect to Eddie Howe’s side, who have enough faith in their own principles to avoid relegation, but those principles of open and positive football condemned them before a ball was kicked at the Etihad – the venue where City have averaged 2.9 goals per game in the Premier League since Manuel Pellegrini’s appointment in summer 2013.

Opportunities like that won’t come around too often for Sterling and if he wants to repeat the feat against superior opposition, improvements must continue to be made upon his most fundamental flaw – a lack of technique and composure when in front of goal.

It may seem paradoxical to accuse a player of poor finishing just days after netting his first Premier League hat-trick, even more impressively at the tender age of 20. Overall, his career return of 30 goals in 156 outings isn’t too bad.

But it could have easily been five or six for the former Liverpool attacker on Saturday, as simpler chances than his mazy demolition of Bournemouth’s backline went disappointingly begging. Likewise, only one of Sterling’s career strikes has come from outside the box – an area of his game he really needs to improve upon. To give some comparison, Alexis Sanchez has scored seven in 63 games for Arsenal.

Of course, inconsistent end product plagues most players of Sterling’s age and the fact City broke their club-record fee to sign him regardless is testament to the rest of his increasingly holistic game.

In 102 Premier League appearances, he’s already featured on both wings, at No.10, at centre-forward and for a brief time with Liverpool in both wing-back positions as well. He’s not always shone the brightest when thrust into unnatural roles but he’s never let down those who have placed him into them either, demonstrating not only positional intelligence beyond his years but most impressively self-sacrifice for the sake of the team.

Clearly Sterling’s array of attributes, his speed, athleticism, agility, dribbling ability and vision, make him suitable for more than one position – against Bournemouth, he operated as a second striker, nomadically drifting behind Wilfried Bony – and that consistency and versatility can be of immeasurable benefit to a club like Manchester City.

But, first and foremost an attacking player will always be judged by the tally of goals, especially in a team creating as many chances as Manchester City and especially a forward who gets himself into as many scoring positions as Sterling. The first rule of football is that goals win games, which is why Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi boast seven Ballon d’Ors between them, but only three defenders have won the accolade since its 1956 incarnation.

In four or five years’ time, goals will be the ultimate decider of whether Sterling is a truly world-class player; the next Eden Hazard or the next Willian, the next Arjen Robben or the next Jesus Navas; and consequentially, whether City spent their £50million wisely.

But this article does not intend to be all doom and gloom. The fact is that Sterling has improved upon his finishing significantly since first emerging as a Liverpool prospect in 2012. Back then, he couldn’t even make the right contact with the ball to project it towards goal; now he’s scoring hat-tricks for a City team with impeccably high standards. Likewise, his shooting accuracy has increased from 43% in his debut season to 67% during the current one, despite averaging just shy of one more shot per match.

Clearly progress is being made, but when goals don’t come naturally to an attacking player there is always inevitable cause for concern. Some, like Arsenal great Theirry Henry, develop to defy their weaknesses. Others, like Danny Welbeck, do not.

Right now, City have £50million on Sterling following the former, and although the Bournemouth display suggests he might, the England prodigy still has a very long way to go. 

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There’s a fine line between madness and genius. Jurgen Klopp is traversing it with expert precision. After giving Liverpool a boost since his arrival, the last three games have given an indication that the honeymoon period has come to an abrupt end.

Now his real work begins and he needs to galvanise the team for real. Rather than go about this discreetly, the scenes after the 2-2 home draw with West Brom suggest the spectacle of Klopp is just beginning.

After a goal six minutes into injury time salvaged a point for the Reds, Klopp celebrated by dragging his players to the home fans to show appreciation for their support. Some of the players were clearly a little uncomfortable, looking like teenagers that don’t really want to be in the family festive photos. Others embraced the suggestion and went along with it.

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At the time, the fans should have felt touched. Weeks after openly criticising supporters that left the ground early, the manager was acknowledging and paying gratitude to those that stayed and pushed the team on to grab a valuable point. If we lived in more innocent times there’d be no harm done – but we don’t.

The German is obviously thick skinned and one can only hope the same can’t be said about his head. He must have known he was opening his team, currently on a dip, and himself to public ridicule.

The Liverpool fans not in the stand clapping would have seen social media explode with delight, for all the wrong reasons.

It’s an old party piece of Klopp’s, to walk his team, hand-in-hand, toward the crowd in a line. His Dortmund side did it and he was right to realise Liverpool fans love a bit of nostalgia. But his timing was off. The hesitant Liverpool players in that assembly felt something not dissimilar to what the Hull City team experienced when Phil Brown sat them on the pitch at Manchester City for a good telling off.

The intention may have been different but the long lasting result is the same. A manager that needed to keep his head down and do his team building in private has shone the spotlight on the club at the wrong time.

After losing on the road to Newcastle and scraping a draw to West Brom, the trip to Watford this weekend suddenly looks daunting and memories of the famous 4-1 Manchester City victory seem a long time ago.

An effervescent Hornets side, that has only lost in the league since November to Arsenal, Leicester and Manchester United, will now have the added tool of mockery to assist in their Sunday contest. From a psychological perspective, Klopp has added to Watford’s bounce and placed a weight on the shoulders of his team.

Of course, it could all be part of a diverting tactic. Much more has been made of Klopp’s behaviour – not just the celebrations but a flare-up with Tony Pulis – than his team’s overall performance against the Baggies. The problem with throwing people off the scent is it should be used sparingly. Once initiated a turnaround of fortunes is required quickly before the questions are asked anyway. Ask Jose Mourinho if you’re in any doubt.

It could also be Klopp’s first lesson with how life will be with the British media. He came as a charismatic hero that charmed the knickers off everyone. But a whiff of being too eccentric or outright crazy will have people change the mood fast.

Klopp may well be prepared to offer himself up for this sacrifice if it buys the team some time. However, time is always fleeting in the Premier League, and he needs a return to the performance levels witnessed at the Etihad.

Only then should he consider another ostentatious celebration.

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Manchester City have been boosted in their chase to sign Sergio Busquets after admitting that Pep Guardiola could lure him out of Barcelona, Skysports reports.

The 27-year-old has emerged as a top transfer target for the incoming City boss, who will take over from Manuel Pellegrini in the summer.

He earlier admitted his desire to remain with Barca and eventually become one of the club’s longest serving players, but could now see his mind changed.

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The midfielder revealed that only two people can convince him to leave the La Liga champions, his wife and Guardiola, but also hinted that he hopes his former boss doesn’t make a move for his services.

“I have always said there are just two persons who could make me change my decision to stay at Barcelona,” he told ESPN Desportes.

“One of those two persons is my wife. And she is happy here right now, so I don’t think there will be any issues on a personal level.

“On a sporting level, that other person is Guardiola. It’s clear that I owe Pep a lot and I would be honoured to work with him again.

“He knows that Barcelona are my club and it’s his club as well. He knows it’s best for the club and for me to stay here and I don’t think he will ask me to leave Barcelona.”

Busquets has enjoyed a hugely successful spell in Spain since being promoted from their youth squad, winning five league titles as well as the Champions League three times.

The Spain international has already featured 34 times in all competitions for his side this term and is tied down with a £128million buy-out clause.

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West Brom star Chris Brunt has labelled the Baggies fan that hit him with a coin yesterday as disgusting, with the Northern Ireland international enraged by the incident.

The Premier League side were 1-0 in the FA Cup against Reading, but a second-half revival from the Championship outfit saw Tony Pulis’ side eliminated from the competition after a 3-1 loss at the Madejski Stadium.

Brunt, who has played over 300 games for the Hawthorns outfit since 2007, was giving his shirt to one of the travelling faithful before being struck in the face by a coin thrown by one of the West Brom fans.

The versatile Northern Irishman did not pull any punches when discussing his thoughts on the incident and admitted that he hopes whoever threw the coin is caught by the police.

“I was walking towards our supporters, and they thought it was OK to throw a coin at their own players. It’s absolutely disgusting,” he told BBC Sport.

“If someone wants to come forward and say who did it, that is not a problem, they know where I am and I am happy to discuss it like normal human beings.

“I hope the police have got hold of them because never in my life have I seen anything like that. I understand frustrations – we haven’t played well in the second half and being 1-0 up you shouldn’t be losing 3-1.

“You go over to the fans who have travelled down to say thanks for spending their money and a small minority spoil it for them.

“There are some young kids sitting in the front row who have witnessed that and it’s not on.

“I wouldn’t like to bring my kids to football matches and see something like that.”

West Brom look set for a mid-table finish in the Premier League, with defeat in the cup robbing the Baggies of a chance of unlikely silverware this season.

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Leicester travel to Manchester this weekend knowing they’re just one win away from sporting immortality – they need only three points from three games to crown themselves champions after Tottenham slipped up at the Lane with a 1-1 draw against West Brom on Monday night.

At the other end of the table, Norwich have now fallen into the drop zone for the first time in over two months, and their tough run of upcoming fixtures starts at Arsenal as they hope to salvage their Premier League status.

Fellow relegation rivals Sunderland travel to Stoke, and Newcastle host FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace as the fight for survival continues.

Looking ahead to the weekend’s action, FootballFanCast predict who will be the winners and losers of this week’s fixtures.

WINNER – Wes Morgan

At Nottingham Forest and Kidderminster before his 2012 move to the Foxes, Jamaica international Wes Morgan wouldn’t have believed you if you told him he’d be a Premier League winning captain in four years’ time.

Well Wes, that most unlikely of dreams is about to come true. Leicester – as much as they won’t admit it – will be playing with a winner’s freedom at Old Trafford this weekend. Don’t expect to see the cagey 1-0 specialists we have in previous weeks; expect a sprint towards the finish in what has been a marathon season.

Morgan has been colossal all season for Claudio Ranieri’s side, earning himself a spot in the PFA Team of the Year. For a man Paul Merson described as ‘awful’ at Nottingham Forest, he hasn’t done too badly.

LOSER – Jamie Vardy

Although he is not really a loser, Jamie Vardy will be devastated to miss out on the parade this weekend if Leicester are to bring home the title.

Having bagged 22 goals this season; broken Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s decade-old scoring record; earned himself an England call up and been named in the PFA Team of the Year; it hardly seems fair that the former non-league star will miss out on a moment of sporting history.

His over the top reaction to his silly sending off against West Ham in their 2-2 draw earlier in the month earned Vardy a two match ban, and was altogether, well, silly, really. Sorry, Jamie.

WINNER – Sergio Aguero

The Argentine will be at it again this weekend, quietly going about his business as usual. Overlooked once more for both PFA Player of the Year and the PFA Team of the Year, Aguero is still in contention for the Golden Boot this season having scored 23 for the Sky Blues.

The former Atletico Madrid striker will be looking to add to his tally of 101 Premier League goals this weekend, a feat which he achieved quicker than any other player bar Alan Shearer.

Southampton’s defenders will need to be at their absolute best if they are to keep City’s star man quiet, but somehow I don’t see it happening.

LOSER – Jakob Haugaard

Three weeks in a row Stoke City have now conceded four goals. That’s 12 in three games for you non mathematicians out there, and has put a downer on an otherwise excellent season for Mark Hughes and his side.

Haugaard has been one of a guilty bunch contributing Stoke’s awful form of late, and is yet to keep a clean sheet for the club, conceding a total of 11 goals in only four appearances for the Potters.

Sunderland look revitalised and with in-form Jermain Defoe looking to break into the top 10 Premier League goalscorers of all time list before the season ends (he’s three behind Robin Van Persie), the young Dane will be lucky not to concede more than one yet again.

WINNER – Kolo Toure

The experienced Ivorian’s future is a little at sea at the moment, after he admitted he wasn’t sure where he stands with Liverpool next season.

Manager Jurgen Klopp, however, has given the former Arsenal and City man a big boost, reassuring Toure he sees the defender firmly in his future plans at the club after his recent good run of form.

With Mamadou Sakho having seemingly ruined his Anfield career, and Martin Skrtel not favoured by the club’s eccentric German manager, Toure may be given his chance to shine against struggling Swansea this weekend. Yaya’s older brother will hope his performance will be enough to earn him a starting position in the Europa League final should Liverpool make it past Villarreal in the semis.

Celtic captain Scott Brown believes his recent performances have been influenced by injury.

Brown revealed yesterday that he has been playing with a hamstring injury over the past month and that although such problems are part of the game, it does mean putting the body under strain.

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He told the club’s website that in order to play in big matches, you sometimes have to play through the pain barrier:

“There have been times where the team has not performed as well as we’d like, and there have been times where I personally have not performed as well as I’d like but that’s part and parcel of football.”

“There have been a lot of injuries and people playing through the pain barrier for the club and I think some fans maybe don’t understand that. People only see who turns up on the park and they don’t see the day to day.”

“The last six or seven games now it has been hard for me but you deal with it – that’s football. People get injuries but you come through them and hopefully you can just keep playing as long as you possibly can.”

Despite Brown’s injury and dip in performance, manager Ronny Deila persisted with keeping him in the starting XI.

Although the Hoops did effectively seal their fifth consecutive league title against Hearts after a 3-1 win at the weekend, their Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Old Firm rivals Rangers left the Norwegian under huge pressure.

He subsequently announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.

Paul Lambert, David Moyes, Brendan Rodgers, Neil Lennon and Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill have all been touted as replacements for Deila as the club seek to make it six titles in a row next season.

After a season that saw Liverpool reach two cup finals and finish eighth in the Premier League there’s a sense of both optimism and realism at the club.

Optimistically speaking, the Reds have shown in glimpses what they can do under Jurgen Klopp. Despite losing both the Capital One Cup and Europa League finals, their displays on the way to Wembley and Basel respectively were an insight in what may be on the horizon at Anfield.

But realistically, there’s still a lot to do to transform the side, and the German is bound to know that. Reds fans want at the very least Champions League football and the expectation is that under Klopp’s guidance this is attainable with a few changes.

Klopp will have in mind what needs to be done at the club to transform their fortunes – he looks like he’s already sorted the goalkeeper issue – and we’ve got a pretty good idea of what else needs to be done here at FootballFanCast.

Here are FIVE things Klopp needs to address…

Cutting out individual errors

How Klopp stamps this out is a subject that he’ll be working on for a while. Mistakes do happen, of course, but the rate they happen at Liverpool is rather alarming. There have been far too many occasions where a mistake for the Reds has gifted the opposition a goal and by cutting these out they’d see themselves shoot up the league table. Klopp’s great at instilling confidence in his players, perhaps a bit more of that will see some of the mistakes eradicated.

Stop getting bullied aerially

Liverpool won the fewest aerial challenges out of any side in the Premier League this season just gone. Defensive frailties and a number of diminutive players are the causes of this and whilst Klopp can’t get his players to wear stilts, he’ll surely be looking at a few physically imposing players to join his ranks.

The signings of Joel Matip and Marko Grujic suggest this has already crossed the German’s mind – both are 6 foot 2 inches or above.

Better chance conversion

The Reds created the second most amount of chances last season behind Spurs in the Premier League. The likes of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana were pulling the strings, whilst James Milner turned into an assist king, but unfortunately for the Anfield outfit they only scored the sixth highest amount of goals in 2015/16.

Missing Daniel Sturridge must be noted as a big reason for this, but clearly if Liverpool were a bit more clinical they’d be flying high.

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Sort out set piece defending

This one is fairly self-explanatory, because Liverpool have been frightening – for Reds fans – when defending set pieces. Simon Mignolet doesn’t exactly exude confidence when a ball comes into the box and this has spread to his defenders on a number of occasions.

If Klopp can shore up his defenders from corners and free-kicks, his team will be already better placed to go on and win a game than having to recover from cheap goals.

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The art of holding onto winning positions

The Reds have been pretty poor at this as well. Games that should have been dead and buried have turned on their heads to be either a draw or a loss for the Anfield side. If Klopp wants to turn his team into a genuine European qualification force, or even title contenders, they need that winning mentality and the ability to see out games. It’s a trait of champions to do that and Liverpool currently do not possess it.

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Despite Liverpool being among the Premier League’s most active teams in the transfer market this summer – which is only officially a matter of days old – it seems as though Jurgen Klopp’s work at Anfield is far from done.

Goalkeeping concerns have been somewhat addressed with the addition of Loris Karius, Joel Matip has come in to steady the ship defensively and Sadio Mane has been signed for an eye-watering £30m+ as the latest in a long line of recruits from Southampton, but the German seems to be not yet content with his squad.

In truth, it was always likely to be an active few months given that this is indeed the ex-Dortmund boss’ first off-season on Merseyside, making it only natural that he’s looking to mould his senior squad.

As mentioned above, multiple areas have been addressed, but it seems, judging by the links with Piotr Zielinski and Mahmoud Dahoud that Klopp’s major targets will be central midfielders. However, the pair may be unattainable this summer.

But, as the old adage goes, there are plenty more fish in the seas, and some of these could be worth catching to solve the tactician’s midfield concerns…

Ruben Neves

As the youngest player to ever captain a team in Champions League history – a feat achieved at 18 early last season as Porto took on Maccabi Tel Aviv – Neves has been talked about for a while as one of the finest emerging deep-lying playmakers. The now 19-year-old did, however, miss out on a spot in Portugal’s EURO 2016 squad, but that should be no slight on his qualities as a player.

Linked with Liverpool prior to Klopp’s arrival, reports have re-surfaced of late suggesting that he is once again a wanted man on Merseyside, and it’s fair to say that his composed brand of football would offer a different option to the physicality of Emre Can and the energy of Jordan Henderson.

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Moussa Sissoko

Relegated with Newcastle last season and known for being a little enigmatic, Sissoko may not be an overly logical choice. However, the Frenchman must have something about him, after all he’s part of the French set-up preparing for a European Championship semi-final as we speak, and has been consistently linked with moves to big sides across the continent for some time.

If Sissoko’s physicality and drive can be harnessed, and he can be kept suitably motivated, the 26-year-old could be a fine addition. Klopp has a habit of polishing rough diamonds, and with Sissoko able to play in basically any midfield position, he could be a handy option when the fixtures pile up around Christmas.

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Zlatko Junozovic

If stats are being used heavily in transfer proceedings at Anfield, Junuzovic is a fine option. The Austria international was among the top ten in terms of assists in any of Europe’s top five leagues last season with ten from a deep-lying role for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, a return that puts him in the same conversation as the likes of Dimitri Payet, despite playing for a side that finished in the lower reaches of their division. Junozovic is also a set-piece specialist, too, which will help Liverpool given they’ve lost both Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez in recent memory.

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Joe Allen/Marko Grujic

Why invest when you already have talent available? It’s a strange situation for Liverpool, with Allen impressive at the EUROs with Wales, showing off his metronomic passing skills. The ‘Welsh Xavi’ has, however, entered the last year of his contract, and at the age of 26, he has every right to be calling for regular first-team action, something his small stature seems to have held him back from under Klopp, who favours a powerful approach from his players.

If it is indeed physicality the German is after, he may need to look no further than Grujic. Signed way back in January, but loaned back to Red Star Belgrade immediately, the Serbia international stands at 6ft. 3” and has already been likened to Nemanja Matic and Steven Gerrard due to his mixture of explosiveness and sheer presence. Okay, the transition from football in his homeland to the Premier league may not be a smooth one, but having shown the faith to sign him, surely Liverpool will have to hand the 20-year-old some game time.

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William Carvalho

Finally, a player that has been populating rumour round-ups for quite some time. The Portugal international has been a key cog in the Sporting CP midfield for little while now, with the 24-year-old’s rangy playing style drawing comparisons with none other than Arsenal legend, Partick Vieira. In truth, it’s a little unfair to don Carvalho with that label, but the Angola-born ace has bags of power, pace and physicality, which has drawn natural talk of him being well-suited to the Premier League.

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West Ham, apart from needing strikers, also need a quality right-back.

With Carl Jenkinson so seriously injured last year that he was out for the remainder of the season, West Ham struggled to fill the void.

Players attempted to cover admirably with Palace player, James Tomkins more often than not deputising in that position. Joey O’Brien had fitness concerns and didn’t play very often, Sam Byram was drafted in from Leeds in January and the pacy winger, Michail Antonio also stepped into the breach when required.

However, an experienced, talented right-back is required, not a make shift cover, that’ll-do-for-now solution.

One player is glaringly obvious and ticks all of the boxes. Bilic and the Board should now be calling the players agent and discussing terms, signing him within the week.

And that player is free agent Alvaro Arbeloa.

At 33-years-old, Real Madrid have let the Spaniard go and although he is not as young as West Ham’s recruitment policy criteria allows, he is just what The Hammers need this season.

His former coach Jose Mourinho said in an interview with MARCA that he valued the full-back’s off-field contributions as much as his on-field ones.

He said: “Arbeloa does not have that high a profile, but is certainly one of those who has given Real Madrid, its fans, all of his coaches and his teammates all that he had.

“In my 16 years of coaching I have him, surely, on the podium of the most important players with whom I have worked.”

Arbeloa left Liverpool for Real in 2009 after two years at Anfield. He spent seven successful years at the Bernabeu, making over 150 appearances for the La Liga giants and is being courted by AC Milan, who know a good thing when they see it.He was also good enough to turn out for Real Madrid 238 times altogether, a feat few players are talented enough to achieve and to have won 58 caps for Spain during one of the most competitive eras in the nation’s history. Playing an integral role in Los Blancos’ charge to the 2011/12 La Liga title, he played 26 times as the first team stole the league title back from Barcelona for the first time in the Pep Guardiola era.Arbeloa was still a useful squad player as the club clinched ‘La Decima’ and then the ‘Undecima’ Champions League triumphs. The full-back has won more silverware in the past 15 years than most Premier League clubs have in their entire history.Arbeloa’s legs may not have allowed him much playing time last season, but his enthusiasm and consistent dedication to training even when he knew he would not be playing did set an example to the whole team. Imagine the youth set up at the Academy having that kind of experience to draw upon.At 33 he is hardly past it and would be a perfect fit, with plenty of game time to keep him happy. If Bilic wants experience without a transfer fee, then look no further than this player.Time to pick up the phone, Mr. Bilic.