Robin van Persie Injured – But Why Did Arsenal Release Him?

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has picked up a groin injury while training with Holland and is now a doubt for tonights friendly with England at Wembley.

Sky Sports News confirmed that Van Persie was forced to miss the last 10 minutes of a training session on Tuesday after pulling up with a groin complaint, although Dutch manager Bert van Marwijk is hopeful he will be fit to play England this evening, saying:

“We will have to wait and see but I don’t think it’s too serious. I am optimistic he will play,” he told Sky Sports News.

Sky Sports also suggest that van Persie was carrying the groin injury before meeting up with his national team, which if true is a disgrace as Arsenal should never have released him for this ridiculous mid-season friendly if he was carrying any sort of knock.

Several players have already pulled out of various national team squads this week with ‘injuries’ so why would we take the risk with our best player and captain at such a vital point in the season?

Any sign of an injury would have given us the perfect excuse to tell the national team: ‘sorry, Robin’s not available for selection, he’s carrying a groin injury’, and he could have had the week to rest. Instead, it looks like he’s aggravated the injury.

I’m sure Gooners will remember the last time RVP got injured it was while playing a meaningless international friendly and that time he was ruled out for 4 months, so lets hope this is nothing more than a minor scare.