He said: "I now work with top professionals. I am glad I'm in London and not Rotterdam.

"Arsenal want to be at the top. Arsenal think big, that is the difference with Feyenoord. At that club most people think only about the short term."

Van Persie is not only disillusioned with the state of affairs at his former club, but also with Holland as a nation.

"It might sound hard, but I'm glad that I don't have anything to do with Feyenoord any more.

"Speak to a guy of, let's say, 12 in Kralingen, where I grew up, or with a guy of the same age in London and you discover so many differences in values.

"You really get scared from that. Children in England are brought up so differently to us. They are much more polite. A Dutchman is more negative."

The negative atmosphere is something Van Persie also notices when it comes to the Dutch national side, for whom he believes the expectations are too high.

"Believe me, everybody at Oranje wants to show dominating football," he told De Volksrant newspaper. "But in Holland, hell breaks loose if that doesn't happen.

"I don't find that fair. Maybe everybody must realise that we are not one of the best countries in the world."