45 Quotes by Robin van Persie

Arsenal are a great club, but after eight years, sometimes you feel that you need a new challenge.

You can count my interviews this season on one hand, so maybe when I do speak, people want to turn it into something sensational.

Great players must always produce and at any time or in any game. Give them a ball and a pitch, and they will show what they've got. That relaxed, calm spirit you don't really have when you are young.

What I need to address are the situations when people are taking it upon themselves to think for me, make assumptions, or interpret things as if they are me. Last time I checked, my head was still attached to my body, so I'm the only one who knows exactly what I'm feeling, and that is not what I or the fans have been reading.

Arsenal will always come first. You name them - Henry, Vieira, Pires, Bergkamp. People saw these stars shine, and they thought: 'Is there life after Vieira, Pires or Bergkamp?'. But look at what happens here. At Arsenal, you always see young, fresh talent grow into the same role as those stars who have left. Other players have replaced them.

When I was five, I joined a club, 'Excelsior', the club of Kralingen, in the first division. I was always training. On a free afternoon, I did individual work with Aad Putters, my youth trainer. Not with the idea growing to be a star, but for fun.

At home in Manchester, I have a recreation room just like I had in London, with all kinds of jerseys on the wall. In the middle, there's a table to play tennis.

When friends wanted to go to the centre of town, they took a bus or tram. I took the ball and went running after them. School was hell because I had to put the ball on the ground. Outside, I was free, playing the ball.

Our fellow players are sometimes occupying the spaces I want to play in. And when I see that, it makes it difficult for me to come to those spaces as well. So that forces me to adjust my runs based on the position of my fellow players. And unfortunately, they're often playing in my zones. I think that's a shame.