The date was April 22, 2013 when a Manchester United player last scored a hat-trick in the Premier League.
Robin van Persie, in his debut season, fired a sensational hat-trick against Aston Villa at Old Trafford to clinch the league title for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. Six-and-a-half years later, Manchester United’s wait for a Premier League hat-trick as well as the title still continues.
Robin van Persie was the last Manchester United player to get a Premier League hattrick.
— WelBeast (@WelBeast) April 14, 2020
Robin Van Persie left Manchester United 7 years ago. Let that sink in.
A lot has happened in the English top-flight between then and now...
- A total of 76 hat-tricks have been scored in the Premier League since.
Woah!
- Manchester United’s local rivals, Manchester City, themselves have bagged 15 hat-tricks. 11 of those 15 hat-tricks for the blue half of the city have come from Sergio Aguero.
Perhaps, the Red Devils can take a lesson or two in the art of scoring trebles from the Argentine.
- Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has bagged eight trebles since.
No wonder they have been trying to sign him for years now!
- Former Manchester United attackers Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Wayne Rooney have all scored hat-tricks for different clubs since Van Persie’s treble in 2013. In fact, Lukaku’s feat came against United itself, in Sir Alex’s final game in charge.
Ouch! That surely ought to hurt.
- Adam Johnson, who spent three years in prison, has scored a hat-trick more recently than Manchester United!
- Of all the current Premier League clubs, only Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield United have not boasted a Premier League hat-trick scorer since United’s last treble. However, one should also take into consideration that Brighton have been in the top flight for only three years, while Sheffield United have played only 28 games.
Embarrassing surely!
It has now been exactly seven years since a Manchester United player last scored a hat-trick in the Premier League.
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) April 22, 2020
76 match-balls have been taken home by other players from other clubs since.
Here's every single one of those hat-trick heroes. pic.twitter.com/DwIJ9plzSB
- Since that hat-trick by van Persie, Manchester United have splashed over £800million in transfer fees for new players. Close to £300million has been spent on recruiting new attackers – Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay, Radamel Falcao, Angel Di Maria, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez.
How does Ed Woodward still have his job?
- After that hat-trick, van Persie left Manchester United in 2015, joined Fenerbahce, returned to Old Trafford with the Turkish club in 2016 and scored a goal, then had a stint at Feyenoord and is now enjoying his retired life.
Meanwhile, Manchester United were busy tying up new sponsorship deals, courtesy Woodward. Seriously though, how does he still have the job?!
- Since that hat-trick, Manchester City have won three league titles, Chelsea have won two and even Leicester City bagged their first-ever Premier League crown.
- Bournemouth earned promotion from League One to the EFL Championship (2013), then to the Premier League (2015) and Callum Wilson scored a hat-trick in their first-ever Premier League season.
- Tottenham Hotspur built a state-of-the-art stadium worth over £1billion. Liverpool won the Champions League and are on the verge of ending their 30-year wait for a league title.
Surely, scoring a hat-trick in the Premier League cannot be as difficult as any of these achievements.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Andrew Yates
