Today’s player of the day is the current PFA Players’ Player of the year holder and Arsenal FC’s Robin Van Persie. The 2011-2012 season was a memorable one for RVP for many reasons. Following the departure of Cesc Fabregas to FC Barcelona Van Persie was made the first team captain.
The captaincy seemed to inspire Van Persie as, despite Arsenal having a poor start to their season, he continued where he left off the previous season and with an impressive string of performances culminating in receiving the Premier League Player of the Month in October 2011. His goal scoring record was also impeccable finishing just one short of Alan Shearer’s record of 36 goals in a single calendar year. Van Persie finished the season with 30 league goals, enough to earn him the premier league’s golden boot award, and his performances resulted in him being awarded the PFA player of the year 2012.
Van Persie made his debut for Arsenal back on the 8th August 2004 having signed from Dutch side Feyenoord and has since gone on to play 279 games for the gunners with an impressive 132 goals.
Van Persie earned his first caps for the Netherlands in less than the span of a week, first in a 2–0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying win over Romania on 4 June 2005, and in another qualifier four days later against Finland, which saw him pick up his first international goal in a 4–0 victory. Despite not being a regular starter for Arsenal, Van Persie was part of coach Marco van Basten's roster for the 2006 World Cup finals. He played in all four of the Netherlands' matches and scored his only goal in the group stage against Côte d'Ivoire via a free kick as were eliminated in the Round of 16.
Van Persie was included in the squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Van Persie was in the starting line-up for their first match in the competition, a 2–0 victory over Denmark and he scored the first goal against Cameroon in a 2–1 win to ensure that the Netherlands finished as group winners. He started every match for the Oranje, though he did not increase his goal tally following the match. However The Oranje reached the 2010 World Cup Final, in which he was on the losing side due to Andrés Iniesta's extra time goal.
The Dutch suffered one of their worst performances at a major championship at Euro 2012 finishing bottom of their group with 0 points. Van Persie did however score his only goal of the tournament in a 2-1 loss to Germany.
Van Persie has made 68 appearances for the Netherlands scoring 29 goals.
Source: DSG
