Robin van Persie has responded after new Feyenoord signing Raheem Sterling was judged on just 29 minutes.
Sterling, who joined as a free agent from Chelsea, played his first game since May 2025 against Telstar, coming on during the 2-1 win.
Afterwards some pundits questioned the signing, including Rafael van der Vaart who said if Sterling has lost his pace he ‘won’t be able to keep up’ in the Eredivisie.
Other websites and social media channels back in England were far more mean, taking selective sensationalist social media posts from fans to slam his debut, earning a rebuke from Jack Grealish.
Now responding to the headlines, Van Persie said: “I liked some of those reactions, the Dutch way: they were direct about everything that wasn’t right.
“I thought the criticism was misplaced. If you have a sense of the context, where Raheem comes from and what he’s already achieved, he hasn’t had any team training for months.
“His career is truly extraordinary. We’re talking about an absolute top player who has won almost everything there is to win.
“To then dismiss him so badly based on his first half hour in over six months is simply completely incomprehensible.”
Can Raheem Sterling get up to speed?
Van Persie was then asked about other criticism of the signing, given there’s 10 games left and Sterling may not have time to get up to speed.
“I think it’s normal for there to be more understanding and for people to understand the context a little better,” he responded.
“But Raheem doesn’t get it and he doesn’t care. I like that. Raheem is used to dealing with criticism; this couldn’t be less of a bother for him. But we’ll all get along.”
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