Starting his career as a winger, Van Persie made his senior debut for Feyenoord during the 2001–02 season, which culminated with victory in the 2002 UEFA Cup final; he was also named as the Dutch Football Talent of the Year.

After five years with Feyenoord, he fell out with manager Bert van Marwijk, and he joined English club Arsenal in 2004 as a long-term replacement for compatriot Dennis Bergkamp.

During his spell in Turkey, Van Persie featured regularly in his first season, but saw limitations in playing time in the following two campaigns after suffering with injuries, with both club and player agreeing to a buyout in January 2018, after which he rejoined Feyenoord on a free transfer.

After starting for Feyenoord in the final of the UEFA Cup, which resulted in a 3–2 win against Borussia Dortmund, Van Persie received the KNVB Best Young Talent award.

[8] The following season, Van Persie signed a three-and-a-half-year professional contract with Feyenoord, and scored five goals in a 6–1 KNVB Cup thrashing of AGOVV Apeldoorn on 6 February 2003.

During the January transfer window, the Eredivisie club opened negotiations with Arsenal, who were seeking a long-term replacement for aging veteran Dennis Bergkamp, but both parties could not agree to terms.

"[15][16] Arsenal had further padded their stable of strikers in January by signing Spanish forward José Antonio Reyes,[17] leaving the two to battle for playing time.

Van Persie made his debut and won a trophy in the process, as he came on as a substitute in the 3–1 FA Community Shield victory over Manchester United on 8 August 2004.

[18] Van Persie spent most of his time on the bench during earlier parts of the 2004–05 season, and marked his first competitive start on 27 October by scoring Arsenal's opening goal in a 2–1 League Cup win over Manchester City.

He was sent off for the first time, however, in an Arsenal shirt on 26 February during a 1–1 road draw with Southampton, following a lunge at left-back Graeme Le Saux, for which Wenger was seen yelling an obscenity at Van Persie from the sidelines.

[25] Two days after signing the contract, however, Van Persie was again hit by injury when an opponent stepped on his foot and broke his toe during an FA Cup match against Cardiff.

His season, however, ended early for the second time in his career on 21 January, when he fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot while celebrating his late equalizer in a match against Manchester United.

Following a streak of seven goals in ten regular-season games, Van Persie was sidelined for two months with a knee injury suffered on international duty.

[33] On 29 October, he scored his fiftieth career Arsenal goal in a 4–4 home draw with North London derby rivals Tottenham, but was hit with his first red card of the season on 1 November after knocking down goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen with a shoulder charge in a 2–1 loss to Stoke City.

On 24 February, Van Persie scored a crucial penalty that earned Arsenal a 1–0 win over Roma in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 encounter, after he was fouled by defender Philippe Mexès.

On the final day of the Premier League, Van Persie scored a brace against Stoke City, which guaranteed him for the second time in his career as Arsenal's top scorer.

[50] Continuing his fine form, he hit a brace the following week against Wolverhampton Wanderers scoring both Arsenal goals in a 2–0 win including a volley from inside the box.

[52] Van Persie set the Emirates alight with a goal from an almost impossible angle in Arsenal's fightback against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, which ended 2–1 in favour of the Gunners.

[64] The following calendar year started in the same fashion for Van Persie, but Arsenal began to falter, losing three consecutive matches against Fulham, Manchester United and Swansea City, even though the Dutchman scored in the latter two.

On 29 January, he rescued his team, scoring two penalties against Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup to help Arsenal to a 3–2 win after falling 2–0 down in a Man of the Match performance.

While Van Persie claims that Arsenal didn’t offer him a new contract following talks, he says he is still grateful to the club and Arsene Wenger and harbours no ill-will towards Gazidis.

[78][79] Van Persie chose the number 20 shirt after assistant coach René Meulensteen convinced him that he would help secure Manchester United's 20th league title.

On 20 October, Van Persie scored United's second goal in a 4–2 win over Stoke City, opening up his body and guiding a cross into the far corner with his left foot.

[92] Van Persie kick-started his new campaign by scoring both of Manchester United's goals in their 2–0 win against Wigan Athletic in the Community Shield, securing David Moyes' first honour as club manager.

In the dying minutes of injury time, Marouane Fellaini's header from Ángel Di María's free-kick was saved by Thibaut Courtois, and Van Persie smashed in the rebound to equalise.

[103] He and his former United teammate Nani debuted two weeks later in a goalless home draw against Shakhtar Donetsk in the third qualifying round of the season's Champions League, with Van Persie a 68th-minute substitute for Moussa Sow.

Having missed two earlier chances, he picked up the ball near the halfway line, turned and ran at the German defence, before firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Van Persie replaced Brian Priske, who was sacked two weeks earlier, and would be assisted by René Hake, Etiënne Reijnen and John de Wolf.

Manager Arsène Wenger planned to convert Van Persie from a left winger to a central forward as he had successfully done with star player Thierry Henry.

Due to the retirement of Bergkamp and departure of Freddie Ljungberg, Van Persie was given a starting role to play alongside Henry as a second striker upfront.