Robin van Persie... Dutchman scoops 35.3 per cent of your votes

Van Persie is the Player of the Season

Robin Van Persie is the 02/Arsenal.com Player of the Season.

The Dutchman was a major contributor to the Club's campaign with 20 goals but just as satisfying were the 44 games he played in an injury-free season.

Here, Arsenal.com editor Richard Clarke reflects on Van Persie's progress.

“Really?” exclaimed Robin Van Persie with more than a hint of disbelief.

“Ah fantastic,” he added having got confirmation. “That is the biggest honour I always think.”

The striker had just been told he was Arsenal.com’s Player of the Season with a whopping 35.3 per cent of the vote. It was double delight for the Dutchman given where we were and what we were doing. The venue was a seafront room at the famous Carlton Hotel in Cannes. Van Persie had interrupted his holiday to not only sign a new contract but tell the world about it too.

So he had started the day in a good mood. Getting the fans’ approval simply validated the decision he had just made to commit the best years of his career to Arsenal.

There appeared to be no doubts in Van Persie’s mind in the interview that followed. He seemed determined and dogmatic about the brightness of the Club’s future.

Yet just over a year earlier, the player himself had question marks hanging over him. Injury had curtailed two admittedly eye-catching campaigns. Talent was never the issue, toughness certainly was. Given that Emmanuel Adebayor had just completed a 30-goal season and Eduardo looked the part before the horrors of St Andrews, Van Persie might have been pushed to get in the starting XI when everyone was fit.

Simply staying healthy throughout the 2008/09 season would have been a step forward but his contribution in that time would be special. The first real sign were those two second-half goals in the comeback at Chelsea in November. That was closely followed by an outstanding strike against Liverpool. Running at full speed, he chested down a lofted Samir Nasri  through-ball on the edge of the area, turned his marker and lashed a shot past Pepe Reina. It was one fluid movement and typical of his cast-iron technique.
 
It was much more of a Bergkamp goal than an Henry one. And like his compatriot, Van Persie was as happy creating goals as scoring them. He contributed to all of Arsenal’s eight strikes in January – three as scorer and five as ‘assister’.  He made all three at Hull City and lashed home a last-second leveller at Everton.

Unsurprisingly, he was Player of the Month but registering a staggering 88.5 per cent was a mark of his importance to a team that was now fighting with their backs to the wall. Remember in January, Aston Villa were still looking solid in fourth place. Arsenal had been clinging to their coat-tails and hindsight portrays this month as the one when Arsène Wenger’s side started to reel them in.

Perhaps Van Persie was just responding to responsibility. Arsène Wenger had made him captain for the first time for the FA Cup Third Round tie with Plymouth on January 3. He would score twice in a comfortable win. He also became the regular penalty-taker in the second half of the campaign.

Holding his nerve to score important spot-kicks against Roma, Villarreal and Manchester United in the Champions League. During that interview in France, Van Persie told an illuminating story. He recalled that while on international duty last season the Dutch had the usual Young vs Old practice match and, for the first time, he was put in the latter group.

Now Van Persie is 26 the day after Emirates Cup weekend – hardly geriatric. But it does make him an old head in an Arsenal side ran by early twentysomethings and stocked up with teenagers.

Of course while he answered certain questions last season, there will be a whole heap of further issues to address if Van Persie is to live up to his sky-high potential.  

But back in that hotel room, the player concluded his interview by stating and re-stating his commitment to winning. “We will lift a trophy,” he said with steely assurance.

Thanks to your support, Robin Van Persie will pick up a personal prize at the start of the coming campaign.

[Monday, July 13, 2009]

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