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Van Persie '100%' fit and ready for World Cup

Robin van Persie missed six weeks of the season after injuring his knee against Olympiakos in March © PA Photos

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Netherlands and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie claims he is 100% fit and ready to perform for his country at this summer's World Cup.

Van Persie, 30, picked up a knee injury after scoring a hat-trick in Manchester United's win over Olympiakos in the last-16 of the Champions League in March. The striker missed the next six weeks for his club and only reappeared as a second half substitute in the disappointing 1-0 defeat to Sunderland on May 3.

With a tough group of Spain, Chile and Australia to navigate, the Netherlands need their top marksman to perform and Van Persie insists he will be at full fitness after taking part in session at their Hoenderloo training camp on Thursday.

Ferdinand backs Van Gaal appoinment

Rio Ferdinand was released by United © Getty Images

• Rio Ferdinand says Louis van Gaal would be a "very strong" manager at Manchester United should the club appoint the current Netherlands boss as David Moyes' permanent successor.
• Van Gaal has been heavily linked with taking over the position at Old Trafford and could be confirmed next week, while current interim manager Ryan Giggs is believed to have been offered the position of assistant manager.
• Read the full story here

"I'm feeling good," Van Persie said. "Mentally I'm fresh. If you play a full season you can be a little bit tired at the end of the season. But I'm fresh, the knee is fine as well so I'm looking forward to it.

"I'm 100%. It's just that I need a full game now. We have three friendlies to play [and] my last game against Southampton [for United] was 67 minutes so hopefully I can play a bit more."

Van Persie, the Dutch skipper, was later seen with bandages and strapping on his knee which suggests that he is still cautious over his injury but will be in action when the side take on Ecuador at the Amsterdam Arena on Saturday.

The squad then fly to Portugal for warm-weather training before games against Ghana in Rotterdam on May 31 and Wales in Amsterdam four days later.

Manager Louis van Gaal, who is reportedly close to being named the manager of Van Persie's club Manchester United, also insisted that he had discussed a potential change of formation from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2 with his captain.

"I discussed changing the formation with Robin as I talk about these matters with my captain," Van Gaal said. "He was here in Holland to recover from his injury and he went to games with me. I spoke to him about the way of playing, my ideas, and we discussed it while we were watching the games."

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