'I threw Robin van Persie on the floor'... Ex-Arsenal star recalls wild training brawl with the icon

EXCLUSIVE: Robin van Persie had a tear-up with a teammate during his first day at Arsenal.

While renowned for their footballing skills, on this occasion, the strikers involved in the scrap, had to showcase their fighting prowess.

Jérémie Aliadière had a brawl with Robin van Persie

While Jérémie Aliadière ended up forming a friendship with Robin van Persie, his first interaction with the Dutchman couldn’t have gone much worse.

WOW: Wilfried Bony reveals the reason Arsene Wenger didn’t sign him for Arsenal

In an exclusive interview with Sporf, via Betinia, the Frenchman reminisced: “It was Robin’s first day. Before he arrived that summer, I wanted the number 11 shirt, so I asked the club, and they said, ‘Yes, we’ll talk about it later, no problem’. Then, Robin van Persie got signed, and he took the number 11, so I was not super happy with that—first because I fancied the number 11, and secondly because it was more competition for me up front. I wasn’t over the moon about that, and I wasn’t wanting to be too friendly with Robin.

“During our first training session, he had the ball, and I tried to come and press, and he kind of pushed me or elbowed me, and I just lost my head. I grabbed him, and I threw Robin van Persie on the floor, and we started wrestling and messing about. It wasn’t a punch-up or anything like that; it was just me being a bit upset about the whole situation. We ended up playing together after, made great memories and became really good friends; it was just a first day of me being a bit grumpy about someone new coming in.”