The Dutch manager was in charge at Rangers from 1998 until 2002 and tried to bring van Persie - then a temperamental youngster at Feyenoord - to Glasgow only to be thwarted by his inability to offload another player.
And while Van Persie admits things worked out for the best when he joined Arsenal in 2004, he has revealed he was very keen to make the move to Scotland.
He told BT Sport: "Years ago I was still playing for Feyenoord and I wanted to go there.
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I was interested, I was ready to go.
Robin van Persie
"I spoke to Dick Advocaat, who was the manager of Glasgow Rangers and he was interested, I was interested, I was ready to go.
"But they first needed to sell one player before they could buy me, or something like that.
"I was still very young, maybe 19 or 20, but in the end I went to Arsenal."
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