Van Persie Defends Sterling Against Cynicism After Feyenoord Start

Raheem Sterling finally got the stage he has been waiting for in Rotterdam. A rare start, more than 70 minutes on the final day of the season, and a 2-0 win that locked in second place for Feyenoord.

The performance? Mixed. The reaction? Anything but.

Robin van Persie spent as much time fighting for his winger in the press room as Sterling had spent running the channels on the pitch.

“He was unlucky at times,” Van Persie told reporters, dissecting the display with a striker’s eye. There were moments when Sterling drifted into clever pockets, especially after the break, when he darted inside and threatened to open Zwolle up. There were also the familiar signs of a player still adjusting to a new league, a new rhythm, a new country.

But Van Persie was in no mood to linger on misplaced touches or missed opportunities. His real frustration lay elsewhere.

“Personally, I struggle with the cynicism surrounding him,” he said. “I think respect is more appropriate. In any case, I don't like cynicism. I can't stand the whole atmosphere around him.”

That “atmosphere” has followed Sterling since he arrived in Rotterdam with a reputation that usually insulates players from this kind of scrutiny. This is a forward with multiple Premier League titles, a Champions League pedigree, and close to 100 England caps. A player who has lived at the sharp end of elite football for more than a decade.

Yet in the Netherlands, Van Persie believes, that résumé has been brushed aside far too easily.

The Feyenoord manager did not hide his irritation at what he sees as a cultural problem in Dutch football: a tendency to tear down rather than to recognise what a player has already proved at the highest level.

“Everyone has to know their place in that,” he warned. “And I think we sometimes go a bit overboard in the Netherlands regarding that.”

Sterling’s arrival was supposed to be a statement. Rotterdam welcomed a marquee name from Liverpool, Manchester City, and Chelsea, a forward whose numbers in England speak to sustained excellence. For Van Persie, those numbers still matter, even if the form line in the Eredivisie has dipped.

“He has scored 200 goals in England and played 82 international matches,” he pointed out. “And that is regardless of whether you think he plays well or not. But I think the way we handle this as a footballing nation is really very bad.”

The message was clear: judge the moment if you must, but do not erase the career.

Sterling himself chose silence after the win over Zwolle, walking past the mixed zone and leaving the noise to swirl without him. Van Persie, though, made it clear that his support would not end with a few strong lines in a press conference.

“I am going to discuss that with him tonight,” he revealed. “We are having dinner with the group tonight. Then I will take a moment with him.”

On a night when Feyenoord secured second place, the result felt almost secondary to the manager’s wider point. Van Persie is determined that one of the most decorated players to set foot in the Eredivisie in recent years is treated as more than a punchline to a difficult season.