Van Persie: I loved playing with club's legends

Striker Robin van Persie has admitted that he was in awe when the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira were at the club.

The Dutchman said that it was the realisation of a childhood dream when he arrived to play alongside the club's legends.

van Persie said: "It was a dream coming true for me to play with Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, [Robert] Píres, [Patrick] Vieira, I loved it, I loved every single training session, every single game, even if the boss gave me two minutes, as Dennis Bergkamp substitute.

"I was still proud to come on for Dennis Bergkamp and play for Arsenal, I was really proud to wear that shirt.

"That's where everything started for me, I was so convinced about myself and the faith the boss had in me that we were working together on this.

"The most important things with [big players] is the way they trained and played. For me it was really important, just to look at them sometimes.

"Words are not as strong as actions and their actions were so strong, giving 100%, treating football with the highest amount of respect. That was the biggest lesson for me overall, just being around, being surrounded by them."

And that, perhaps, is what is wrong with the current Arsenal squad. Who are these kids looking up to now?

User Comments

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments

Vs chelsea