Robin van Persie: biography
Robin van Persie is a famous representative of the football world. Playing as a striker, he is a complete player who is good at finishing the attack and goalmouth action.
Sports reporters say that the Dutch striker sometimes scores a goal like a bolt from the blue.
Childhood and youth
Robin van Persie was born on August 6, 1983, in Rotterdam. The future footballer was named after Robin Hood. Bob van Persie, the father of the star of the Dutch team, was an artist who had illustrated a book about the noble robber shortly before the birth of his. In 2006, Persie Sr. participated in the creation of the design for the stands of the Emirates Stadium, a home for Arsenal. Robin is not the only child in the family; the parents also have daughters Lily and Christina.
Legend has it that the fortune teller predicted the success of his son in sports. Later, when the prophecy began to come true, the father retold it to neighbors and friends. One of them was journalist Leo Verheul, who made the story public.
When Robin was three years old, the family broke up. After the legal case, the boy was left with his father. Bob van Persie raised his son alone. The strict father and the influence of the street affected the character of the guy. They even wanted to expel Captain Vantastic (the nickname of Robin van Persie) from school due to his disgusting behavior.
One can only guess what the boy would have done under the influence of a hooligan environment, but for the father’s decision to enroll his son in the football school. Bob chose the Excelsior School, the third most important club in Rotterdam. From the very beginning, Robin showed leadership and talent; his aggressive behavior had a positive influence on the playing. Since then, football has become the meaning of Robin’s life.
Football
In 2001, Robin van Persie began his professional football career, joining the Feyenoord Club. After the 2001-2002 season, Van Persie received the KNVB Best Young Talent award, and until 2004 the striker was the leader of the attack, playing for the “Pride of the South” (Feyenoord’s nickname) at the national and international tournaments. As a result, Robin scored 14 goals for Feyenoord in 61 games.
Despite successful performances, the career of the football player did not take off. Robin was included in the reserve team due to a conflict with the coach.
However, in 2004, the forward received an offer from Arsenal. At that time, the club management was anxious because José Antonio Reyes and Dennis Bergkamp had left the team, so the transfer of the young football player softened the disappointment of leaders and comforted fans.
Van Persie signed a 4-year contract with Arsenal. In the team, the striker got down to business from the very beginning. Fans remembered the match against Charlton Athletic for a long time, when the football player scored a beautiful goal, hitting the ball at a penalty corner. It was recognized as the Goal of the Month, and the video is still watched by fans.
In Foggy Albion, Robin played with compatriot Dennis Bergkamp, whose training inspired the young player to improve himself. At first, Van Persie doubted his role as the "number 10" of the team, and he did not play well as a left-winger. But the desire to be like Bergkamp helped the striker understand his abilities, taught him to concentrate and do his best.
It is no coincidence that the Italian coach Arrigo Saki considered the footballer from the Netherlands to be the most versatile striker. Jürgen Klopp did not envy Robin's rivals when the latter was in the penalty area and at the same time retreated from the midfield line. Alex Ferguson enjoyed the way Van Persie got a ball from a distance. The captain of Manchester United said that Robin’s every move was meaningful.
The Dutchman played in 194 matches and scored 96 goals for the Gunners (Arsenal’s nickname). During this time, Robin won the FA Cup and FA Community Shield.
Despite his injuries, Robin managed to achieve high results. Van Persie is recognized as one of the top scorers of the Premier League.
On August 15, 2012, after lengthy negotiations, Robin van Persie moved from Arsenal to Manchester United. The transfer to Manchester United was the most important decision in the sports career of Robin.
The transfer fee was £ 22.5 million. After five days, the footballer went on the field in the match against Everton. The striker scored his first goal for Manchester on August 25 in the game against Fulham, and on September 2, 2012, the Dutchman's hat-trick led the Red Devils (the nickname of Manchester United) to a 3–2 victory against Southampton. Playing for Manchester United, Robin van Persie won the Premier League in the 2012-13 season and the FA Community Shield.
Robin van Persie played for Manchester United for three years, showing good results.
In 2005, Van Persie was invited to the national team of the Netherlands. In 2006 he played at the FIFA World Cup in Germany, but the man mainly came on as a substitute. At the UEFA Euro 2008, the Netherlands did not lose a single match of the group stage and reached the quarterfinals, where they lost 3–1 to the Russian team. Robin scored two goals at the continental competition, held on the football fields of Austria and Switzerland.
The Dutch team showed a more successful result at the World Cup in South Africa, where it reached the finals but then lost to Spain, having given away the only goal in the 116th minute of the game. Van Persie's statistics in the national team are impressive. From 2005 to 2015, the forward played in 101 matches for the national team and scored 50 goals, becoming the Dutch national team's all-time top scorer.
Successful performances for the national team allowed Robin van Persie to compete for the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2012. Despite worldwide recognition, the Dutchman failed to win the long-awaited trophy.
In 2014, Robin van Persie joined the Dutch national team at the FIFA World Cup, which was held in Brazil. The player scored a goal already in the first round. Robin scored a flying header against Spain, which made the striker the first footballer in the history of the Netherlands who scored a goal at 3 FIFA World Cups in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Robin believes that this goal was the best in his career.
In the second round, the Dutch team defeated Australia 3–2. These 3 points helped them qualify to the 2014 World Cup knockout stage. As a result, Oranje (the nickname of the Netherlands national team) finished 3rd at the world championship, beating Brazil, the host of the tournament.
In 2013, Van Persie replaced Wesley Sneijder as a captain. After the award ceremony, he gave the captain's armband and a bronze medal. The memorable things were given to the eccentric fan who got the nickname Orange General and became the hero of television shows. The British media assumed that Robin presented the award and did not keep it as a souvenir. When the football player returned from the spectator stands to the field, there was no medal on his chest or in his hands.
In July 2015, Fenerbahçe agreed terms with Manchester United for the transfer of Van Persie. The Daily Mail wrote that Manchester United was ready to pay the player £5 million to leave the team so that they could invite another footballer with a better physical condition.
The Turkish club paid the English player € 6.5 million. Robin van Persie signed a 3-year contract with Fenerbahçe, which provided for the possibility of extending the agreement for a year.
After signing the contract, Van Persie became the most expensive player in the club with a salary of £240 thousand per week. It is worth mentioning that the Turkish Beşiktaş was also interested in the Dutchman, but the Fenerbahçe managers could lure the forward away.
Inter, Lazio, and Juventus wanted to add the striker to their squads. Some reporters later said that Robin moved to Turkey but not prosperous Europe because, unlike Italy or Germany, the southern country did not charge high taxes to football players.
The ill-considered transfers impressed Van Persie’s fans more than once. Arsène Wenger said that even the loss of Alexis Sánchez could not be compared with the transfer of the Dutchman from Arsenal. However, no one denies that the reason for the move was not only Robin's desire and large sums of money but also the desire to win more trophies.
By the way, the Dutchman thinks that Wenger has played an essential role in his career, which he wrote on Twitter when the Frenchman resigned as head coach of Arsenal.
Persie’s goals have often been included in the top 10 of the most beautiful and brightest goals. Each new goal of Captain Vantastic is amazing for fans. He scored the best goals, playing for Arsenal, but fans also remember the goal against the Spanish national team at the 2014 World Cup, when the Dutchman scored a header against the Red Fury.
In November 2016, the forward's fans were shocked by the news that Robin almost lost his eye in a Süper Lig game.
The incident occurred during a match against Akhisar Belediyespor. At the end of the first half, the Dutchman clashed with two opponents and got a severe eye injury. The video of the incident was recorded, and the photo of Robin with a bandage soon spread on the Internet. The forward was urgently taken to a hospital, and fans were preparing for the worst, but everything was alright. Doctors said that nothing threatened the health of the leader of the Yellow Canaries attack (Fenerbahçe’s nickname).
In June 2017, Dutch media reported that the striker could return to his homeland. Feyenoord head coach, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, mentioned that Van Persie would be extremely useful for his team, but called the information about the transfer of the striker inaccurate.
The news about the transfer to Feyenoord made the fans of Arsenal think about the striker’s return to the London club.
Personal life
The personal life of the football player cannot be called calm. In 2005, Van Persie was arrested on suspicion of rape. Dutch model Sandra Kriegsman reported it to the police. After long trials and interrogations, the investigation proved that the football player was not guilty. Kriegsman later admitted that the allegations were false.
The scandal, court proceedings, and 14 days in prison had a serious impact on the emotional state of the football player. Robin realized that he could lose everything he cherished in the blink of an eye. The relatives of the football player say that after this incident, the man’s character has changed a lot. Van Persie, formerly known for his aggressive and wild nature, became more calm and restrained.
From the very beginning, Bouchra Elbali, the wife of the Dutch striker, was confident in the innocence of the chosen one. The woman always visited her husband in prison. The football player's wife claimed that despite recklessness Robin could not be a rapist.
When the athlete's innocence was proven, Bouchra said:
“It may sound strange, but after this incident, Robin and I became even stronger.”
Robin van Persie has known his future wife from a young age. At the age of 19, he paid attention to the girl who at that time studied at the university and was his neighbor. On March 31, 2004, Robin and Bouchra got married in Rotterdam and soon moved to London when Van Persie was invited to Arsenal.
The couple brings up two children: son Shaqueel, who was born in November 2006 and named after the NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, and daughter Diana, who was born in 2009.
Rumors had it that Robin van Persie converted to Islam under the influence of his wife. The football player does not want to confirm or refute this information, stating that religion is a touchy topic that does not need to be discussed. The football player prefers to talk about preparation for matches. The forward always chooses a healthy diet that allows him to keep fit.
Fans are closely following the new posts of the forward on Instagram, hoping to find out about the plans of their idol.
Robin's hobbies are golf, table tennis, fishing, and collecting of football players’ T-shirts. His best friend is colleague Rafael van der Vaart.
Robin van Persie now
In Turkey, Robin played for two and a half years, participated in 91 games, scored 40 goals, and provided 8 assists. In early 2018, the Dutchman received the status of a free agent and returned to Feyenoord, which was his golden ticket 17 years ago.
Soon, the head coach of the Netherlands national team, Ronald Koeman, visited the team to talk with Van Persie about his return to the national team. The forward neither accepted nor refused the matter. At first, he decided to return to their former conditions.
In April, the striker scored one of three goals in a decisive match in the Eredivisie, after which Feyenoord extended the contract with Robin for another one year and appointed a captain. In the semifinal match, the striker scored the 300th goal in his career. Then in an interview, the footballer shared his dream of playing until the age of 40. At the same time, the man has complained that he is sometimes tired of the sporting schedule, it takes more time to recover from injuries, but he wants to become an example for young people.
Robin van Persie has a net worth of $50 million.
Awards and achievements
Feyenoord
- UEFA Cup
- KNVB Cup
- Johan Cruyff Shield
Arsenal
- FA Cup
- FA Community Shield
Manchester United
- Premier League
- FA Community Shield
- Premier League top scorer
Netherlands
- FIFA World Cup runner-up - 2010
- FIFA World Cup bronze medal – 2014
- Netherlands all-time top goalscorer
