Robin van Persie returns to Old Trafford with Fenerbahce on Thursday, but things have gone so poorly this season for the 33-year-old in Istanbul that many in Turkey would be surprised if he starts the game. Injury and non-selection have meant that the Dutch striker, who left Old Trafford in 2015 to sign a lucrative three-year contract, has played only 136 minutes in seven league games so far.
"Van Persie was not happy last season because the coach Vitor Pereira made him sit on the bench," says Pınar Bekbolet, a pundit on Turkish television for Lig TV. "Many argued that he needed time to get used to the country, the dynamics of the league and the team. The rest blamed the manager, claiming that he didn't know how to take care of a star."
Despite scoring 16 goals in 31 league games, Van Persie was criticised as his new club finished as runners-up for the second straight season. The Dutch striker's fellow countryman Dick Advocaat replaced Pereira at the beginning of this season but, if anything, Van Persie's struggles have increased.
"The fans were hoping Van Persie would be reborn from his own ashes," says Bekbolet. "But nothing is changed at all. He insists that he is fully fit now, physically well and able to play for 90 minutes but his manager -- and even teammates -- don't agree with him."
Advocaat felt that his striker would be highly motivated by the opportunity of playing against United and started him in a league game for this first time this season at home to Alanyaspor on Sunday. Despite playing the full 90 minutes, Van Persie didn't impress.
"No goals, no shots on target, no key passes," said Bekbolet.
Advocaat cut a frustrated figure after the game when he said: "Some players need to accept the fact that they can play for Real Madrid but not for Fenerbahce."
That was seen as criticism of Van Persie for not taking the responsibility of leading the team in difficult times; Fenerbahçe currently sit ninth in the table and are expected to win or finish in the top three at the very least, which doesn't make things easy at present.
Nani, who also left United for Fenerbahce in 2015, didn't enjoy his time in Turkey and left after one season for Valencia, where fortunes have picked up for the 29-year-old. Things are different for Van Persie, who is 33 and on a contract that he would not come close to getting elsewhere in Europe.
It's a shame because, at his best with Arsenal and United, Van Persie was a world-class striker. He'll get a positive reception at Old Trafford and fans will chant "Oh, Robin van Persie" to the tune of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army," even if he's on the bench.
He received a similar reception at the start of the month at a Legends of Football dinner in London, at which Van Persie won an award for his 2013 volley against Aston Villa, which was voted as the greatest goal by players who have scored 100 or more in the Premier League.
That memorable strike helped United towards the title he had been bought to win. Manchester City had won the title the previous season and Sir Alex Ferguson identified Van Persie, coming off a season in which he'd scored 30 league goals, as the man to help get United back to the top. Arsenal fans were as stunned to see him leave as United fans were when he arrived.
Supporters had believed that United could not -- or would not -- buy the very best players in football, either for financial reasons imposed by the club's owners or because Ferguson felt there was no value in the market.
Having reached three European Cup finals in four years from 2008-11, one could hardly claim United were failing with that policy but, by 2012, Ferguson felt Wayne Rooney was fading and that his side needed the quality that the then-29-year-old Van Persie could provide.
According to Ferguson, Van Persie wanted a challenge and his Arsenal contract was running down. Man City also wanted to sign him, as did Juventus. The Italian side offered what Ferguson called "an astronomical sum," but Van Persie wanted to join United.
He also wanted to win the Premier League, something which Arsenal had not done during his eight years in North London doing. Moving to Manchester for £22.5 million, plus add-ons if United topped the table, was the right thing to do and his mere presence had an immediate impact.
"His arrival lifted the dressing room; the players could see he was a top player who'd chosen to come to the club," recalled then-United coach and Rene Muelensteen, a fellow Dutchman who had a part in the move.
Van Persie was an instant success, scoring 30 goals in all competitions, including a last-minute Manchester derby winner, as well as goals home and away against Arsenal and Liverpool. He won the club's player of the year award and, crucially, that much-coveted league title.
"Robin had a great first season," says Muelensteen, "He fitted perfectly into the strategies we had for players over or pushing 30. He's a very intelligent player, who reads the game and opponents exceptionally well. He makes connections with other players which a lot of talented players struggle to do."
And then, in May 2013, Ferguson retired.
"We had told Robin van Persie, for example, that I would not be retiring any time soon, which was correct at the point I said it," recalled Ferguson, who said to his players: "I hope I haven't let some of you down, because you may have joined thinking I would stay."
Van Persie would not come close to emulating his production in that first season at Old Trafford -- no United player has managed 20 goals in a single season since then -- as a change in manager, coaching staff and chief executive impacted him and many other players.
Not for the first time in his career, injuries also restricted him and that frustrated his new manager. David Moyes had been at United for four months when he was asked in an interview if he wanted to talk about Van Persie.
"Don't even mention that name to me," Moyes said, his eyes tightening. The response was never broadcast.
Moyes was of the opinion that Van Persie was fit enough to play for a team that was struggling at the time, an opinion the player did not share. The manager didn't want to lose the support of a key player and so an agreement was reached, whereby both sides pulled back and Van Persie was allowed to see his own medical people. An uneasy truce persisted amid damaged trust.
Van Persie only scored 12 league goals in his second United season, but then he only played 21 matches. By contrast, he featured in all 38 during his first term at Old Trafford. He played 27 times in 2014-15, but his league goal tally slipped to 10 and he couldn't add to that total in Europe after United failed to qualify.
He departed for Fenerbahce after a season with Louis Van Gaal as manager, making the point of thanking United's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward for his role in facilitating his departure. He did not mention Van Gaal under whom, just a year earlier, he had enjoyed a third-place finish at the World Cup with Netherlands.
It's a measure of how well Van Persie was expected to do in Turkey that he has been considered a failure, despite scoring 22 times overall in his first season, including six in his final five league games. There's no doubt, though, that 2016-17 has not gone to plan for him.
"After Sunday's game I am not sure if we'll see him in the line-up against United, but I'm 100 percent sure that he is enduring the most miserable time of his career and it's fair enough to say that the United game is his last chance," says Bekbolet.
Fenerbahce performed a miracle when they became the first foreign team to win at Old Trafford in 1996. Can Van Persie do the same, by turning around his career at the place where he was once so loved?