VAN MARWIJK & VAN PERSIE TO TALK

Robin van Persie will talk with coach Bert van Marwijk sometime this week about the challenges facing the young player after he was ‘demoted’ to the youth team for disciplinary reasons. Despite picking up the Young Player of the Year award last week, any return to the full squad by Van Persie still has to be discussed in detail. 'I said at the time that it would be a question of months,’ the coach confirmed.

Van Persie was sent home from Istanbul a couple of weeks ago after showing minimal enthusiasm when asked to warm-up in the second half of the Fenerbahçe game. He was subsequently asked to retake his seat, and Thomas Buffel it was who came on and grabbed all the glory with a fine solo goal.