LONDON -- Robin van Persie is sitting alongside a Dutch journalist within an otherwise deserted cinema, watching images of himself like a young boy flickering on the big screen. He looks pensive, then smiles because he sees each goal: at 13, dribbling past three defenders and rounding the goalkeeper for Excelsior¹s youth team; at 15, much taller, scoring in a Rotterdam youth game similarly; and then, three years later, playing for that Feyenoord first team.
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As goals fly in, the comparisons are easy to make: the free-kick against Twente (December 2000), straight from the Pierre van Hooijdonk school; the back-heel turn and shot from 25 yards against AZ (February 2001) like Thierry Henry in the pomp; the dribble past Twente (February 2003) much like Lionel Messi today, and also the chest-then-volley against Ajax (February 2003) similar to Dennis Bergkamp against Argentina.
Watching these goals, included in Dutch TV documentary Heilig Gras, it seems astonishing to consider that Feyenoord ever wanted to sell Van Persie, however the goals don¹t tell the whole story. The little one who dribbled everywhere round town with a ball -- "I drove the shopkeeper crazy, because when I was paying I'd keep the ball up as well," he told Hard Gras, "and when somebody passed me I played him with the legs and continued playing" -- was arrogant, unruly and tough to handle back then.
He started the 2002 Uefa Cup final, in which Feyenoord beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2, but spent the sport trying out ideas to humiliate his opponent Evanilson, and only lasted an hour. He's since admitted he was more interested in himself compared to team and his relationship with coach Bert van Marwijk was strained (Van Marwijk has become in charge of Van Persie with the Holland team, age has mellowed each of them plus they now access it well).
Arsenal signed him for £4.5 million ($7M) in summer 2004, and each year, injuries notwithstanding, Van Persie, a thinker and, according to Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, a football obsessive, has improved his game.
Nearly seven years later, Van Persie is at the peak of his career and, almost single-handedly, leading Arsenal¹s revival after its rocky start led one British pundit to suggest it may be fighting relegation this year.
Van Persie is around the hottest scoring streak of his life: in 2011, he has scored 45 goals in 52 games, with 39 goals in 43 games for Arsenal; this year alone, 14 goals in 13 league starts.
This run coincides with Arsenal selling its two best passers over the summer, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, while its next best, Jack Wilshere, is out with a long-term injury. Which has forced Arsenal to experience a more direct attacking game, using the pace of Theo Walcott and also the trickery of Gervinho to create chances for Van Persie. "The two wingers are creating waves while Van Persie dances and plays within the splashes they make," David Winner, author of Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football, told SI.com.
Van Persie is no longer scoring the glorious goals of his Feyenoord days but he is making scoring look easy, and that is something that Bergkamp, his hero and mentor for that two years they crossed at Arsenal, never managed. "Van Persie would go to where the ball will be, before anyone knows it will be there, and that¹s a mysterious gift to possess," said Winner.
"Bergkamp didn't have that, and nor did Van Basten. It jogs my memory of Gerd Muller, the way in which he checks a run, finds space, and finishes so efficiently with this perfect technique. He makes interesting runs, he still has the touch of a street player about him but his extraordinary movement is both cerebral and instinctive."
Van Persie has always had the habit of smoking of scoring important goals: his first league goal for Arsenal, in October 2004, was a last-minute equalizer against Southampton; after that first season, he would be a late substitute within the FA Cup semifinal against Blackburn, and scored two goals within the last four minutes; within the final, he took a penalty in the shootout against Man utd (after Edu had decided not to take one) and, "though I nearly blacked out I had been so nervous," scored in assisting Arsenal win its last trophy.
Last season, he scored the aim he ranks as his best ever: the equalizer as Arsenal originated from behind to beat Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg. "It was against Barcelona, which for me has got the best squad in the past four decades," he told Heilig Gras. "It's an aspiration to measure yourself from the best and if you're the one which created the turning-point by scoring that goal, then in my experience, that's the best goal I¹ve ever scored." The next day, Van Persie was moved when a 75-year-old Arsenal fan came up to him and thanked him for providing his most breathtaking moment in soccer.
Winner is convinced that Van Persie could have reached this level two or more years back had injuries not intervened. A broken metatarsal in 2007, and ankle ligament damage in 2009, kept Van Persie out for very long spells, while repeated strains and pulls have meant he has yet to start 30 league games inside a season for Arsenal. Wenger has admitted that Arsenal would be concerned if Van Persie ended up getting injured, and the man "is on the edge [of getting injured]," so will be rotated in the next few weeks. He missed Tuesday's Carling Cup loss to Manchester City, and can sit out Tuesday's Champions League game at Olympiakos.
There is also the captaincy to consider: Van Persie's father, Bob, told Canal Plus that Robin's form is a result of the increase in responsibility since Fabregas's departure. "He's no longer just playing for himself, he's playing for that team. He is very important in creating that team now: he's leading they, not only by words but also by his actions on the field."
The Dutch journalist sitting with Van Persie in that cinema was Henk Spaan, the player's confidant and friend. "It's important to him to know that he's valued," Spaan told Mio Stadium. "Deep down he might still be an insecure figure. He's growing with his own importance."
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That could mean there is more to come from Van Persie. Free of injuries finally, we might now find out precisely how good Van Persie really is."I wouldn't yet put him within the same category as Bergkamp, who was a mysterious and profound passer with a perfect technique, but Van Persie is certainly among the best from the current generation right now," said Winner. "What he's doing at the moment is genuinely astounding."
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