No fault of his, I must add.
Rather, it has been due to the never-ending injury sagas he unfortunately always succumbs to – season after season.
After reading all the newsreel and reports accompanying his latest affliction and coming away with the assessment that we will not see him again until mid-October, a niggling feeling is beginning to overcome me.
Will we ever see the full talents of this wonderfully gifted player? Personally, I’m beginning to doubt it.
He is 27 now. An age where players blossom and hit their best years. He just played in a hugely-successful Dutch side that went all the way to World Cup finals. If not for some defeatist tactics by their paranoid coach, Van Persie would probably be a World Cup winner now.
Four seasons ago, Arsenal were hanging onto a 1-0 lead against Charlton Athletic at The Valley. Suddenly, a ball was floated chest high from the midfield and without breaking stride, it fell to Van Persie, who took it first time; smashing it into the Charlton net with both feet off the ground, in a vintage display of jaw-dropping skill. It was described as a "goal of a lifetime" by Wenger and was later picked as Goal of the Month by the BBC.
In our last season at Highbury, the same Van Persie struck a beauty of a freekick from the left side of the box in a Carling Cup semifinal, second leg game against Wigan. Unfortunately, our defence later allowed Jason Roberts to score a damaging equalizer that knocked us out of the competition for that year.
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| Van Persie hitting the "goal of a lifetime" against Charlton in Sept., 2006 |
Two seasons ago in pouring rain, with Arsenal trailing 1-0 to a dogged Everton at Goodison Park, Abou Diaby floated a 40 yard ball over and above the Everton defence in the 80th minute. Approaching from the left flank, Van Persie met the ball in mid-air and connected with his left boot; burying it sweetly past a bewildered , who along with his defenders, never saw the Dutchman.
It is such moments of sheer brilliance and uncoachable skill that makes Van Persie a very special athlete and a delight to watch. His repertoire brings back memories of another supremely gifted Dutchman, the affectionate “there’s only one Dennis Bergkamp”.
Van Persie has shown how capable he is of moments like these. Of gravity-defying exhibitions of his awesome talent.
If only, he can stay fit.
At his age now, it’s beginning to look like his will be a career of truncated potential. Just like yet another gifted Dutchman – a certain Marco Van Basten.
Doses and doses of intensive medication; Litres and litres of injections can surely not leave anyone as good as new. It’s a bit like the case of professional boxers who develop brain damage after years of receiving punishing blows to the head. Or like rugby players who develop 'cauliflowers' in their ears and eventually go deaf after years of being tackled with so much violence.
Yet another Dutchman, interestingly, could have the solution to Van Persie’s endless visits to the treatment table. He is none other than one-time Arsenal bête noire, Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
He suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the knee while at PSV Eindhoven in the season before he joined Manchester United in 2002. On recovery after about ten months out, he remodeled his game to avoid tackles that could cripple him, by playing as a fox-in-the-box. In all his time at Manchester, onto Real Madrid and now at Hamburg, the Dutchman scored almost all his tonnes of goals within the 18-yard box.
Not for him are elaborate displays of skill or one-on-ones that could attract tenacious tackles; the sort that targets knees, ankles and parts of the leg vulnerable to long-term healing.
It is an example worth copying. Hard as it may be for someone of Van Persie’s array of gifts, it would be wise to err on the side of caution in this case.
He has shunned all advances and temptations to repeatedly pledge his future to Arsenal. He seems to mean it as well. Those pledges will however count for nothing if we only see him in fleeting snatches.
A consequence of his repeated absences has been the loss of his deadball abilities. When, if I may ask, did Van Persie last score a freekick for us? Can’t recollect.
Get well Robin and stay well.
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