London - Robin van Persie admits his form has been poor this season and says he does not know if Manchester United will keep him after his contract ends in 18 months.
Van Persie’s close relationship with Louis van Gaal was tested to the limit in the first half of the campaign and the United manager considered dropping him after a “very bad game” against Arsenal in November.
The Holland striker’s form has improved since but he has scored only eight goals and missed one of the few chances United created in Friday’s goalless draw at Cambridge United in the FA Cup fourth round.
United have yet to open talks over a new deal and Van Persie, who will be 32 in August, admits the situation is out of his hands. “It is not up to me,” he said. “I am here for 18 months. I don’t know what is going to happen after that. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Van Persie, who fired United to the title with 26 Premier League goals after moving from Arsenal to Old Trafford for £24million in 2012, admits he can do much better and revealed that he is constantly questioning his contribution to the team.
He said: “This year I have played something like 20 games and scored eight goals - I am not happy with that. I want more. I will do everything, every day in training and during the games, I will keep doing what I have been doing for the last 10 years to make those goals.
“We are not scoring enough goals, including me. Everyone in the team is responsible. Everyone feels responsible. I do definitely.
‘It is a very thin line between scoring a load of goals and only a couple. I know what I have to do to create those opportunities. I will keep doing that. At the moment, it is not enough. In my last couple of games I didn’t score. Can I really blame myself for that? I am always asking myself that question.
“Even in games against Cambridge and top games, how many chances do strikers get? One? Two? So you have to take them.
“Sometimes it is a thin line between winning 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 or drawing or losing because it is just based on those little chances. We could have won 4-2, 3-1, 3-0 against Cambridge. Then we would be having a different conversation.
“Against Cambridge, I don’t think I can blame (Angel) di Maria for the great pass or blame myself for the way I hit it.
“Against Spurs, there was that ball from (Michael) Carrick and I had one touch, another touch and another. I went to finish with my right leg. Normally, nine out of 10 keepers will make a move and it will be a goal. But not that day.”
Meanwhile, the chances of United goalkeeper David de Gea moving to Real Madrid in the summer receded on Monday as Fifa launched an investigation into their signing of under-age players that could see them incur a transfer ban.
Barcelona have been banned from signing players in 2015 and Real have now been asked to provide the game’s governing body with documentation for around 60 boys signed by the club since 2009, on the suspicion that they have broken the same rules.
De Gea’s agent Jorge Mendes admitted last week that his client could end up at the Bernabeu Stadium, but a transfer ban would put an end to that move.
Real are also one of several clubs hopeful of signing Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus at the end of the season and their removal from the 2015 transfer market would drastically alter the prospects of an English club landing the midfielder.
Club official Emilio Butragueno said on Monday Real are not worried about the investigation, which focuses on two 12-year-olds brought to Madrid from Venezuela in 2012.
Manuel Godoy and Fernando Macias were on a tour of trials with big clubs but before they could reach River Plate and Inter Milan, Madrid snapped them up.
Real’s defence centres on an insistence that neither youngster played for the club. There is also a suggestion that Godoy was withdrawn in 2013 when the club were alerted to the possibility that they had broken the rules, while Macias has since moved to Rayo Vallecano.
Madrid have filed all relevant documentation and believe it will show they have not contravened the rule which allows the signing of under 18s from outside the EU only if the player’s parents have had to relocate to the country where the club is based, for non-football reasons.
Daily Mail