Robin van Persie

Robin van Persie born 6 August 1983 is a Dutch footballer who plays as a strikerfor Manchester United and is the captain of the Netherlands national team. He is a youth product of Feyenoord. Having joinedArsenal in 2004, Van Persie became the club captain on 16 August 2011, one year before he joined rivals Manchester United. He is recognised as one of the best strikers in the world. His playing style and ability have drawn comparison to Dutch legend Marco van Basten.

The son of two artists, Van Persie was encouraged to follow in his parents' footsteps, but he instead preferred football and joined SBV Excelsior's youth squad. He made his breakthrough at another hometown club Feyenoord, where he spent three seasons and won the 2002 UEFA Cup. He was named the Dutch Football Talent of the Year for the 2001–02 season. Disagreements with manager Bert van Marwijk culminated in a change of club and Van Persie moved to Premier League side Arsenal for £2.75 million in 2004 as a long-term replacement for Dennis Bergkamp. He won the FA Community Shield and the FA Cup in his first season with the London club but did not win another major trophy for the rest of his eight-year spell at Arsenal. After joining Manchester United in 2012, Van Persie won the Premier League title in his first season at Old Trafford and finished as the league's top scorer with 26 goals. Van Persie has been named Premier League Player of the Month five times. In 2013, he was ranked 11th in The Guardian newspaper's list of the 100 best players in the world.

Van Persie was a Dutch youth international, having represented the Netherlands under-17, under-19 and under-21 sides. He made his senior international debut in 2005 in a friendly match against Romania. One month later, he scored his first senior international goal in a 4–0 win over Finland. Van Persie has 96 caps and has scored 49 goals for the Netherlands, making him their top scorer of all time. He has represented his country at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, and the 2008and 2012 UEFA European Championships.

Club career
Manchester United
2012–13
On 15 August 2012, Arsenal announced they had agreed terms with Manchester United for his transfer, but Van Persie had yet to agree personal terms with the club. On 17 August, Van Persie transferred to Manchester United for an initial £22.5 million, with an additional £1.5 million to follow if United won a Premier League or Champions League title within the next four years. He signed a four-year contract, keeping him at the club until June 2016. van Persie chose the number 20 shirt after assistant coach Rene Meulensteen convinced him that he would help secure Manchester United's 20th league title.

He made his debut on 20 August, coming on as a 68th-minute substitute for Danny Welbeck in a 1–0 loss toEverton. Five days later, with his first shot for the club, he scored his first Manchester United goal, United's first in a 3–2 home victory over Fulham. On 2 September 2012, he scored his first hat-trick for United in another 3–2 victory over Southampton, helping pull United back from a 2–1 deficit; his third goal was his 100th in the Premier League. Van Persie netted a late penalty on 23 September to give United a 2–1 away win at Anfield against Liverpool, and opened his European account with the club, scoring a brace in the 2–1 away win against CFR Cluj, with both goals assisted by Wayne Rooney. On 20 October, Van Persie scored United's second goal in a 4–2 win over Stoke City, opening up his body and guiding a cross into the far corner with his left foot. In the next Premier League game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, he scored his 7th goal in the league, with a sidefoot finish from Antonio Valencia's driven cross to put United 2–0 up. He also played a part in the first goal, firing a shot against the post that cannoned off David Luiz and into the net, in a 3–2 United win. On 3 November, he scored against his former club Arsenal in a 2–1 victory. This meant that he had scored against all 20 current Premier League clubs. On 9 December, Van Persie scored a last minute winner from a free kick in a 3–2 victory over Manchester City, his Manchester Derby debut. This goal ended City's unbeaten Premier League record in the 2012–13 season and also their unbeaten home record extending into the previous season.

After scoring against Everton on 10 February 2013, Van Persie went ten games without scoring, finally ending his barren run when he scored a penalty against Stoke on 14 April. Against Queens Park Rangers on 23 February, he had to be substituted after falling against a television camera and injuring a hip, but was fit for United's next match.

On 22 April 2013, he netted an impressive first-half hat-trick against Aston Villa, confirming Manchester United's 20th league title with four games in hand. His second goal came from a Rooney pass from behind the half way line, which he volleyed into the net from outside the box.

Supporters of Manchester United voted Van Persie as the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year for the 2012–13 season. Van Persie was nominated by UEFA into the 10-man shortlist for the 2012–13 Best Player in Europe award.

2013–14
Van Persie kick-started his new campaign by scoring both of Manchester United's goals in their 2–0 win against Wigan Athletic in the Community Shield, securing David Moyes' first honour as club manager.

He scored twice more in the first Premier League match of the season, against Swansea City, for the first of which "he chested it down and executed a crisp, instant scissor-kick into the net".

On 19 March 2014, Van Persie scored a hat-trick in a 3–0 win over Olympiacos in the second leg of the Champions League second round to send United through to the quarter-finals 3–2 on aggregate.

2014–15
Van Persie scored his first goal for the season in his fourth league appearance in a 5–3 defeat to Leicester city on 21 September 2014. He scored again in the next game against West Ham, helping United win the game 2–1.

On 26 October 2014, in a clash over title-rival Chelsea, Van Persie scored a dramatic late equaliser to earn a point for United. In the dying minutes of the injury time, Fellaini's header from Di María's free-kick was saved by Courtois, and Van Persie smashed in the rebound to equalise. Van Persie celebrated the goal by taking his shirt off and was booked for his action. His goal celebration was also labelled "stupid" by United coach Van Gaal.

On 11 January 2015, he suffered an ankle injury in a 0–1 home defeat to Southampton.


International career

2010 FIFA World Cup

Van Persie was included in the preliminary squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. On 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk announced that he was in the final squad of 23 participating in the competition. Van Persie was in the starting line-up for their first match in the competition, a 2–0 victory over Denmark. On 24 June, he scored the first goal against Cameroon in a 2–1 win to ensure that the Netherlands finished as group winners, and was officially named the man of the match. He started every match for Oranje, though he did not increase his goal tally in the following matches. Oranje reached the 2010 World Cup Final, in which he was on the losing side due to Andrés Iniesta's extra time goal.

UEFA Euro 2012
On 2 September 2011, Van Persie scored four goals in a record breaking 11–0 victory over San Marino. He entered the Dutch national team's top 10 all-time topscorer ranking with a tally of 25 goals, dislodging Marco van Basten in the process. Van Persie had not scored four goals in a single match for a long while.
On 13 June 2012, Van Persie scored the Dutch goal in a 2–1 loss to Germany in the European Championship group stage. Having missed two earlier chances, Van Persie picked up the ball near the halfway line, turned and ran at the German defence, before firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.

2014 FIFA World Cup
Van Persie ended the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign as top scorer in the UEFA section with 11 goals. In June 2013, he was appointed captain of the Dutch national team by manager Louis van Gaal. On 11 October 2013, he became the Netherlands' top goalscorer of all-time in an 8–1 defeat of Hungary, the Dutch's penultimateGroup D match, where he scored a hat-trick. This put him on 41 goals in 80 internationals, surpassing the record previously held by Patrick Kluivert.

In the team's opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Van Persie captained the Netherlands to a 5–1 win over champions Spain in Salvador. He scored twice in the match, one of which was a flying header which was later nominated for FIFA Puskás Award for the most beautiful goal of the year. He was also named man of the match byFIFA. On 18 June, he scored his third goal of the tournament in a 3–2 defeat of Australia, a result that qualified the Netherlands to the knockout stage with one group match remaining.

In the quarter-final, Van Persie scored the Netherlands' first kick in a 4–3 penalty shootout defeat of Costa Rica. He scored his fourth goal of the tournament from a penalty kick in a 3–0 win against Brazil in the third-place play-off.

Personal life

Van Persie was born in Rotterdam to an artistic family. José Ras, his mother, is a painter and jewellery designer who also teaches special needs children. Bob, his father, is a sculptor. After Van Persie's parents divorced he was brought up by his father. At school, Van Persie was one of the most misbehaved children and was excluded from class almost daily. After joining Arsenal in England, Van Persie settled in Hampstead, an affluent suburb of north London. Van Persie is married to Bouchra Elbali and the couple have two children: a son named Shaqueel and daughter Dina.

Style of play

Van Persie started his senior club career as a left winger and possessed exceptional dribbling skills and was also a talented striker of the ball. He was bought by Arsenal as a long term replacement for Dennis Bergkamp. Manager Arsène Wenger planned to convert Van Persie from a left winger to a centre forward as he had successfully done with star player Thierry Henry. He was at first mostly deployed as a second striker in League Cup and FA Cup matches.

Sponsorship
Van Persie has a sponsorship deal with German sportswear and equipment supplier, Adidas. Having previously worn Adidas Predator football boots he made the transition to the Adidas F50 adiZero boots in 2013.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/