Earlier in October, former Manchester United and Arsenal striker Robin van Persie had a training ground bust-up with teammate and United winger Memphis Depay. The reasons behind the row were not revealed and coach Danny Blind referred it to as a normal ‘disagreement’ while training ahead of Netherlands’ Euro qualifier against Kazakhstan. The pair seemed to have something going on between them but they have refused to comment on it till now.
The bust-up as it happened
The row started when Depay allegedly opted not to pass to Van Persie during a drill, despite him being in the best position to score a goal, leaving the striker angry. Van Persie then reportedly asked Depay if he thought he was a 'big boy' and the United winger replied with, “Do big boys play at Fenerbahce then?”.
Such a disagreement should surprise no-one though, as it's easy to see how a star player like Van Persie, currently out of the first XI at Fenerbahce, would take issue with Depay not passing him the ball. In addition, the player’s respective reputations go before them, as RvP has previously had issues with Wesley Sneijder and Tim Krul while Depay has been criticized by Manchester United back room staff for his ‘arrogant’ attitude.
Both Van Persie and Depay have failed to deliver for their respective clubs and country after all the expectations on the Dutch duo. Van Persie has fallen down the pecking order at Fenerbahce and is not happy with life in Turkey while Depay has his own problems of living up to expectations at Old Trafford having completed a £25M move from PSV in the summer.
Danny Blind on the situation
The Netherlands manager has commented on the bust-up and added that, “It was a discussion during a training about a ball that should have been given over. Things like that happen often. There are sometimes situations in training where players think differently. That’s what happened and then it was over." The row grabbed further popularity when van Persie was benched for the game and only played three minutes as a substitute.
Blind also rejected the notion the spat influenced his decision to start Van Persie on the bench: "I felt that he was not fit enough to start. I think that’s down to the fact that he has not played without pain for quite a while. “I want him to be fit enough to play the full 90 minutes. That’s why I did not play him as support striker against Kazakhstan.”
The Netherlands failed to qualify for Euro 2016, but they'd make a world class debate team. If they could just stop arguing amongst themselves.
