Van Persie to miss start of season

Van Persie was captain of Van Gaal’s Netherlands side as they finished third at the World Cup in Brazil and has been given a substantial break in order to recover.The striker has missed United’s pre-season preparations, which continued last night with a 3-1 win over Real Madrid, and Van Gaal says he will not risk him in the opening game of the season.United start their Premier League campaign with a home game against Swansea City on August 16.“Robin wants to play every game, I know that, but so do the other 30 players in the squad," Van Gaal said. "But players have to train and Robin needs a full training regime behind him before he can play again.“Robin will begin training on Monday, but he won’t play in the friendly against Valencia on August 12, definitely not."“And he won’t play in the Premier League at the start either, I think. People can criticise me for that decision but I know what you have to do with players who have had three weeks’ holiday.“Hopefully, Robin will get his fitness back very fast. But at this moment, he won’t be playing."OUR VIEWA minor setback, but nothing more for United. Once Van Persie is ready you can rest assured he will take pride of place in Van Gaal's XI. It does makes things interesting regarding the captaincy though: will Wayne Rooney don the armband for the first game, only to have it promptly whipped away again?(uk.eurosport.yahoo.com)Bakudaily.az