RVP Full Of Ambition

Robin van Persie insists he is still striving to improve as he prepares to lead the Netherlands into World Cup combat.

Ahead of the eagerly-anticipated tournament in Brazil, the 30-year-old discussed his career at length in an exclusive in-depth interview with the new issue of Inside United, the official club magazine.

Van Persie will be working under Dutch coach Louis van Gaal before linking up again with United's new manager in Manchester and he is determined to keep pushing himself towards perfection. With Holland taking on Spain on Friday in arguably the pick of the group stage fixtures, the scene is set for the prolific marksman to prove his status as one of the leading centre-forwards on the planet.

"I have the best job in the world," he enthused. "I started playing football because I loved the game, and nothing's changed: I'm still in love with football and that's what gets me out of bed in the morning.

"I still love the challenge of going out on the training ground and improving my game, seeing if I can get better. I don't know what my maximum is, but I'm always striving to be better than I have been before.

"Ideally, I want to play until I'm 40 - maybe I can even stretch that to 42 - but that's what I want because this is what I love doing and it's what I've done my whole life.

"I want to stretch out this experience as long as possible because I like it so much. My goal is to play 22 years of professional football and I want to experience as many good moments as I can."