Fans send tweets to IT consultant thinking he's Robin van Persie

A number of Manchester United supporters have mistakenly sent Twitter messages to an IT consultant in India thinking that they are speaking to Robin van Persie.

Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad is often referred to as RVP, and his Twitter handle reads @rvp, which has caused plenty of football fans to assume that the name belongs to the account of the United striker.

The 52-year-old received hoards of congratulatory messages when the Red Devils clinched their 20th league title courtesy of a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday evening.

"@rvp You really made the difference for us this season, well done," BBC News quotes one tweet as saying.

The former Arsenal forward's real Twitter handle is @Persie_Official.