Robin van Persie: The Truth I Had to Admit to Become World-Class

Robin van Persie (0:02)

I had this chat with Louis van Gaal, and then he told me, okay, Robin, I'm the coach, you are the player, and you have to go. Your time is up. I was like, yeah, but I still have a contract. He said, yeah, I don't care. You should ask yourself the question, are you a loser or are you a winner? I said, for me, it doesn't matter. I said, because I'm your dad, you can do what you want.

I love you for the same amount. I said, but if you want to be a winner, take control of your life and stop complaining about others.

Jake Humphrey (0:30)

That is Robin van Persie, one of the legendary strikers for Dutch football, Arsenal, Man United and the Premier League. Well, what happens when you sit down and write an honest letter to yourself and realize you've been lying?

Well, that's exactly what Robin van Persie did at Arsenal. He wrote down what he was good at, where he needed to improve and reading it back, realized he was making excuses. And that moment became part of a philosophy that would shape the rest of his career, take responsibility for what you can control. It's the same lesson that he later gave his son Shaquille after a difficult game, stop blaming the coach, stop blaming other people because winners take control. And you'll hear that theme throughout this conversation. From Arsene Wenger, Robin learned patience, development, and how to become a world class player. Then he walked into Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United and discovered something different, an environment where winning wasn't an ambition, it was an expectation.

This is a conversation about football, but really it's about honesty, ownership, standards, and what it actually takes to become better. But we start this episode with Robin van Persie explaining to us when he believes he was at his absolute peak as a footballer.

This is Robin van Persie on High Performance.

Robin van Persie (1:48)

In my mind, when I was at my highest level, I was about 27, 28, personally. So that's a very long road until that moment.

And that starts basically from very young, from five, six years old, you start that process without realizing it. But yeah, I was at my peak personally, mentally, physically, around that age.

Damian Hughes (2:14)

So how would you have defined yourself when you were delivering high performance at that age, beyond the physical attributes of being fast and fit and strong? What were the sort of behaviors that you would describe you were demonstrating during that time of high performance?

Robin van Persie (2:31)

During that period, everything came together. It's like physically, mentally, more in balance. I was quite impulsive when I was younger. In my reactions, the way I was talking, the way I was behaving, the way I was playing.

And that slowly changed over the years, because just by basically listening, looking, learning, and improving myself as a person at the start. And then I brought that back into football, because at one point, I realized that every game was such a struggle, and I didn't really want that. I didn't want to have a constant struggle.

Jake Humphrey (3:11)

In what way was it a struggle?

Robin van Persie (3:13)

It's like because the opponents found out that if they triggered me, if they talked to me in a certain way, or if they did all those things, they could get me sent off.

Jake Humphrey (3:23)

What would wind you up?

Robin van Persie (3:25)

It was going both ways, because if the opponent was stepping on my toes and trying to bully me, I was going really hard, and I was going against it. But in the end, after a period, I started to think about that, and then it made sense to me. I was like, okay, the reaction I have, I shouldn't have that reaction. I shouldn't go against it. I should stand above it. So that is like a process of a couple of years. Because if I go against it, then it's such a struggle. I was just like mentally, physically, I was drained after every match for quite a long time, from the age of 23 till 26 And then I realized that I was like constantly fighting.

And if I missed a chance, for example, that's a process as well. I was very emotional after I missed a chance. I was like constantly, ah, no, I'm showing the world how disappointed I was. And then at one point I was like, yeah, but that's weakness somewhere. Because then the opponent sees that I'm disappointed and that I'm not happy with myself. So I slowly start to change that. And I was like, okay, if I don't show my weakness, then they don't have like, if I don't react on the bullying, if I don't react, if I miss a chance, then I become stronger and better.