Jose Mourinho happy to sing Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s praises, which is more than they do in Turkey for Robin van Persie
Swede star's attitude hailed... But Robin van Persie must improve ahead of Old Trafford return with Fenerbahce
JOSE MOURINHO was happy to sing the praises of Zlatan Ibrahimovic ahead of facing Fenerbahce on Thursday.
You will find nobody in Istanbul willing to do the same for Robin van Persie.
Both are in their thirties but while one is still determined to achieve things in football, the other has “gone fishing”, as one Turkish journalist put it.
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Van Persie was mobbed when he arrived at Ataturk Airport after signing for Fener in a £4.7million deal in July 2015.
Those same fans have now turned on him.
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Fed up with his attitude. Fed up with stories of him missing training with various niggles — as he did in his final two seasons at Manchester United.
Simply fed up that somebody who should have been a hero has let them down.
It took a matter of months for him to fall out with then Fenerbahce coach Vitor Pereira, speaking out after finding himself dropped. RVP finished that first season with 16 goals from 43 games, but only 20 of those were starts. Even the presence of fellow Dutchman Dick Advocaat, who replaced Pereira in mid-August, failed to reignite him.
The striker, 33, has scored once this season and made his first start last Sunday in a 1-1 draw against Alanyaspor.
Ahmet Selik Kul, who covers Fenerbahce for Turkish daily paper Haberturk, said: “Van Persie was such a massive signing at the time but the fans are not happy with him. He has gone fishing.”
Van Persie is likely to start tonight’s Europa League tie in a No 10 role. And he insisted it would be like coming ‘home’.
RVP said: “It will be a special occasion and a special game for me.
“I want to do well for my team but, of course, it will be special to play at home in a great stadium with great fans against a great team.”
Undoubtedly he will get a hero’s welcome from United fans on his first return to Old Trafford.
He deserves it for his first season there when United won the 2012-13 Premier League with his 26 goals.
It has been downhill ever since with 12 and ten goals in the league in the following two seasons.
At international level Van Persie was Louis van Gaal’s Holland captain for the 2014 World Cup.
But his incredible flying header against Spain masked an otherwise poor campaign for the striker in Brazil as the Dutch finished third.
It brought criticism, not least from his former Feyenoord team-mate and TV pundit Pierre van Hooijdonk who later called him an ‘a******e’.
Van Hooijdonk questioned RVP’s commitment. People have been doing that for three years now.
He was part of a Dutch squad that failed to get to this summer’s Euros, his own goal helping the Czech Republic to a 3-2 win in their final group game. In the end, even Van Gaal got shot of him from United after just one season together.
He signed for United because of Sir Alex Ferguson but felt let down when he retired — and he virtually downed tools.
His hat-trick against Olympiakos in the Champions League was one of the few highlights under David Moyes.
He frustrated Moyes. The United medical team on occasions told him Van Persie was fit to play, only for the player to claim he was not ready.
And while some fans might have turned on Wayne Rooney of late, he did everything to try and make the Moyes era work and that of Van Gaal. Van Persie simply did not.
Now Fenerbahce cannot wait to get shot of him and his hefty pay packet of around £200,000 a week.
As for 35-year-old Ibrahimovic, Mourinho was gushing in his praise.
The pair teamed up for a season at Inter Milan and Mourinho said yesterday: “He’s giving us exactly what we need from him, what we expect from him.
“He is quite beautiful for me, to meet him five or six years later and to find the same professionalism, ambition, desire to play, desire to compete.
“He is really fit, he is always ready to play.
“I couldn’t be happier with his influence in the dressing room. The young guys look at him and what they see is great for them.”
Not words you will hear coming out of the Fenerbahce dressing room about RVP.