Like the return of the swallows, the arrival of Christmas, the embarassing exit of England at a world cup, Van Persie’s injuries are always just around the corner. Or are they? Could this be the year the tide turns and the Gunners captain see’s through a full season?
There’s no denying the fact that Robin Van Persie has had a great start to the season scoring 11 goals in Arsenal’s opening 11 Premier league games and tops the golden boot table. He hit the century mark after hitting a brace against Bolton in October and now stands at 107 goals in an Arsenal jersey, establishing himself in a list of all time great Arsenal strikers.
He has carried this form on from the back end of last season, where he equalled a record for goals scored between January 1st and the end of the season, where he hit 18 goals in 19 games. He also broke a record for scoring in consecutive away matches. For 2011 overall, his tally stands at 29 goals. An incredible return.
However, There’s also no denying that Van Persie has been plauged by injuries throughout his career and has left Premier League supporters calling this inevitable. Last year he missed 2 months, the year before he missed 5. Certainly a player which has the ability to shine bright, but these injuries have prevented him for fulfilling his true potential. Alot of his injuries have been picked up while away on international duty which will leave Arsenal fans, like myself, holding our breaths until he returns.
It can be argued that these injuries have been what’s kept him at Arsenal so long, as it’s stopped other clubs from sniffing around like they have done with Arsenal’s big players before. While Fabregas, Nasri, Flamini, Henry, Hleb and other such players have moved on to supposedly ‘better things’, Van Persie has stayed amongst the red and white army. With Inter Milan now interested,could this change?
Personally, I don’t think so. Not because I’m biased and I never accept that players will leave, it’s because the club and Wenger have done so much for the Dutch maestro. He joined Arsenal with a bad boy reputation, falling out with his former manager and with a bit of uncertainty on whether he was a good buy. Wenger changed this, while also keeping faith in him while he was absent through injury. He’s played alongside some great strikers and now he has the chance to climb into the list of all time Arsenal legends.
Also, he was given the great honour of the captaincy of the beginning of the year. It’s a big task, especially when times are tough. Arsenal have improved recently with Van Persie leading the team with his goalscoring and work rate. Do you remember the 8-2 against Man United? Of course you do, we all do. There is a positive to take, at the end of the game Van Persie stopped Arsenal players returning to the dressing room and made them applaud the fans. Evidence he is capable of being Arsenal captain and showing that his ‘bad boy’ days are long gone.
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Let all pray for him,this year wii be diffrent
Let all pray for him,this year will be diffrence.
the club has also done a lot for nasri, if he went to real or inter his career probably would have turned out like hunterlaars. he would have never had the chance to become such a great player like he did at arsenal. still he left as soon as somebody come knocking at his door. I hope rvp is not another hypocrit like hleb nasri or flamini and gives the club amd wenger something after all they have done for him