Robin van Persie Defends Raheem Sterling Amidst Criticism
Robin van Persie did not use the final day of Feyenoord’s season to talk about tactics, or even much about finishing second. He used it to draw a line in the sand around Raheem Sterling.
Sterling, handed a rare start and given more than 70 minutes as Feyenoord wrapped up the campaign with victory over Zwolle, produced what his manager openly called a mixed performance. There were loose touches, wrong choices, moments where the rhythm of the Eredivisie still seemed to elude him.
But Van Persie was in no mood to dissect every misstep. His real target sat outside the dressing room.
“He was unlucky at times,” he told reporters, acknowledging the uneven display. Then he pivoted. “Personally, I struggle with the cynicism surrounding him. 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 landed in Rotterdam with a heavyweight reputation and a career few in the Dutch top flight can match. Multiple Premier League titles. A central role at Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. Close to a century of caps for England. A decade operating at the sharpest edge of the game.
For Van Persie, that résumé should count for something. Protection, if not reverence.
The Feyenoord manager believes Dutch football has been far too quick to sneer at a player whose output over the years is beyond dispute. The debate around Sterling’s form, in his eyes, has tipped from fair analysis into something corrosive.
“Everyone has to know their place in that,” Van Persie said, broadening his gaze to the wider culture. “And I think we sometimes go a bit overboard in the Netherlands regarding that.”
Sterling’s numbers remain his manager’s main argument. Van Persie reeled them off as if baffled he even needed to.
“He has scored 200 goals in England and played 82 international matches,” he said. “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 pressure finally told this season, not in a dramatic outburst but in silence. Sterling walked past the microphones after the win over Zwolle, declining to speak to the media. No defence, no counter-attack, just a refusal to engage with a conversation that has turned increasingly hostile.
Van Persie, who knows better than most how it feels to live under a spotlight, has decided that the response must come from inside the club, not through headlines.
“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.”
A quiet word over dinner rather than a grand gesture in front of cameras. A manager, once a superstar himself, trying to shield another from a storm he feels has gone too far.
Feyenoord finish the season as runners-up. The table will record that. What it won’t show is whether Dutch football is ready to rethink how it treats one of the most decorated players ever to set foot in the Eredivisie.
