Van Persie claims he wants to stay at Old Trafford and backs manager David Moyes

Robin van Persie has denied he will leave Manchester United this summer and claimed he wants to extend his contract when it expires in two years’ time. The striker also said he does not have a “bad understanding” with David Moyes.

Van Persie’s future is in doubt as he has endured a difficult time during Moyes’s first season as manager of the champions.

After United’s 2-0 defeat by Olympiakos a fortnight ago in the Champions League last-16 first leg in Greece, the Dutchman appeared to criticise some of his team-mates for occupying space he should be operating in.

This could be read as questioning Moyes’s tactics and Van Persie’s countryman Ronald de Boer last week claimed the 30-year-old could leave United if Moyes does not bolster the squad in the summer with the top-level signings required to ensure a credible title challenge next season.

This followed the revelation that Van Persie would consider leaving in the summer.

He has now moved to dispel the uncertainty over his future.

Very happy
"The truth is I'm very happy at this club," Van Persie told United Review , the club's programme, in an interview for Sunday's match against Liverpool. "I signed for four years and I'd be delighted to stay even longer, beyond the next two years I have left on my contract. This is how I feel, although it's not what has been suggested in the media."

“I’m very happy with my team-mates and I’m very happy with my manager and his staff. The sessions we have on the training ground are fantastic and I’m learning a lot from them every day.

“I’ve been a professional footballer for 12 years now and there’s no doubt I’m learning new things and progressing with David Moyes.

“Over the last few years I’ve started to look more closely at the way coaches work to learn from them – not just here at the club but with the international team as well.

“I’ve worked with some brilliant coaches and I’ve taken a real interest in all the methods they use and the choices they make. And I can tell you that Moyes’s sessions and the things he says in his team meetings are spot on . . . . I’m absolutely convinced things will pick up and we’ll turn it around.

“I don’t do a lot of interviews. I think you can count my interviews this season on one hand, so maybe it’s the case that when I do speak people want to turn it into something sensational. . . .

“I don’t mind that – it’s part of the business we are in. I don’t mind if my performances get dissected and people criticise what I’ve done on the pitch. They can talk about my game 24/7 for all I care. And a lot of those opinions and criticisms may actually be right. So I don’t mind that.

“What I need to address are the situations when people are taking it upon themselves to think for me, make assumptions, or interpret things as if they are me. . .

“I know I probably only see about 10 per cent of what’s written about me but the things I have read recently aren’t based on the truth. . .

“It goes too far when people start suggesting, amongst other things, that I have a bad understanding with the manager. That’s not true at all.

There is mutual respect between us and the work environment is actually good. He really wants things to work here at Manchester United and I want the same, just like the other players. We’re all working hard to make this work.”

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