Robin van Persie has cast doubt on his Manchester United future by admitting he has no idea whether the club will extend his contract at Old Trafford.The 31-year-old, who has failed to score in any competition since Boxing Day, has 18 months to run on his current deal with talks yet to begin on new terms.
Having scored just eight goals for United this season, the former Arsenal forward also admits to being unhappy with his form under Louis van Gaal.
But with United yet to secure goalkeeper David de Gea to a new long-term contract and Radamel Falcao still to be told whether his season-long loan from Monaco will be develop into a permanent transfer in the summer, Van Persie’s future is unlikely to be resolved in the near future.
“It is not up to me,” Van Persie said, when asked about his United future. “For the moment, I am staying here for eighteen months. That is it really. I can't look into the future. I don't know what is going to happen after that, so we shall have to wait and see.”
Van Persie’s battle for form has been a consistent theme of United’s season under Van Gaal, the man who made him Holland captain at the World Cup, and the player admits he is struggling to identify the reasons for his lack of goals.
And he concedes that, with his future unlikely to be discussed until the summer at the earliest, his priority now is to regain the form that saw him score 30 goals in his first season at United two years ago.
“Sometimes it is a thin line between scoring the first goal in a game – a bit of luck sometimes and I am a big believer in creating your own luck,” Van Persie said, while speaking at the launch of Swissquote, United's first global Official Forex and Online Trading Partner. “But that is not another excuse for something.
“We have to find a way to create luck. Maybe sometimes it is like an option – maybe pass the ball forward a bit quicker and then to the front position and then balls will fall in front of you.
“So you create your own luck and maybe we have to do that a bit more, but we just have to keep doing what we are doing and try to improve.
“But I think everyone in the team is responsible. Everyone feels responsible, I do definitely.
“This year I have played something like 20 games and I have scored eight goals. I am not happy with that, I want to score 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. It makes so many people happy, including me.”
With United struggling to overcome League Two's Cambridge in the FA Cup last Friday, Van Persie’s failure to score a clear chance late in the game contributed to the Premier League club being forced to a replay at Old Trafford next Tuesday.
Van Persie admits that poor result, combined with recent unimpressive performances in the league, has placed pressure on Van Gaal’s players to rediscover their form. “After the game against Cambridge, everyone was a little bit down,” Van Persie said. “Although they played well so you have to give them credit because it is quite a stunt what they did.
“But in a way on Saturday, the whole mood changed. Manchester City were out. Chelsea were out and suddenly we are in it with a home replay against Cambridge.
“And of the so-called big clubs, with how it is now, it is just us, Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham, but we are the highest left in the competition.
“I think it has been 11 years since United won it last but I think we have a big chance this year. We want to win it. But again we have to look at the first game only because that is the next game against Cambridge.
“It is a process. We had a really good run in the last 15 games -- if I am correct, we are one of the best teams regarding results. Games against Cambridge don't really help because for the picture of everyone in the world, we should have won 4 or 5-0.
“It depends whether or not the ball falls for us. But we have to create our own luck and work even harder. Sometimes it is a very thin line between winning a game 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 or drawing or losing because it is just based on those little chances.
“If we had taken them, we could have won 4-2, 3-1, 3-0 against Cambridge. Then we would be having a different conversation.”
By Mark Ogden, Telegraph
