Louis van Gaal, manager of Holland, has sung the praises of Robin van Persie, claiming that our striker has benefited from moving to Manchester United.

Van Persie has scored 12 and assisted 7 in his 17 starts for United this season, including goals against City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

“Robin van Persie is getting ­better and better – it’s incredible,” said Van Gaal. “He is a super ­professional player who really knows what he wants from his ­career and how he will achieve it. I have never seen any player reach Robin’s age and still improve as a footballer. Moving to United has been good for him – and it has been good for Holland. I had never worked with him ­before and the first thing he told me was that if I kept him on the bench he would work even harder to prove me wrong. He said he would never walk away from Holland – and I ­absolutely loved that about him.”