The 31-year-old Raheem Sterling debuted for Feyenoord last week against Telstar, but failed to live up to initial expectations and received harsh criticism following his first game since May 2025.
Manager Robin van Persie defended the English winger in Friday's pre-game press conference ahead of Sunday's away game at FC Twente.
"I thought it was totally out of order," Van Persie said. "I found some of those responses delightfully Dutch: stating bluntly what was wrong."
Sterling played 30 minutes in his first professional game in 254 days and wasn't up to full speed yet. "If you have any sense of context, where Raheem comes from, what he has achieved in the past and that he hasn't done any team training for months..."
"I understand that there are expectations of an absolute top player. His career is quite remarkable. We are talking about an absolute top player who has won almost everything there is to win. But to write him off like that after half an hour. His first half hour after six months. Then you really don't understand anything at all," Van Persie continued.
Van Persie is careful with Sterling, who last played on May 25th, 2025, when Arsenal faced Southampton in the final round of the Premier League season. The former Arsenal and Manchester United striker is adamant about giving Sterling the time to get back to his old self
"You can always judge him. When you're five or six matches down the line, it's no longer inappropriate. Six to eight weeks down the line. If you then feel that he's not delivering and you have a well-founded opinion about that, then I say: you have a point. But to express strong opinions based on his first half hour, I think that's inappropriate."
Sterling defends former team-mate
In addition to Robin van Persie, Everton ace Jack Grealish came to the defence of his former England and Manchester City teammate earlier in the week. "The guy hasn't played or trained for so long," Grealish said under a post criticising Sterling's debut.
"People like you guys are what's wrong with the world. Have some respect."