Van Persie gives son debut ‘as a coach – not as a dad’

In response to Feyenoord’s Europa League defeat by Celtic, Robin van Persie claims that his decision to hand Shaqueel his senior debut was made “as a coach” rather than “out of sentiment.”

The 19-year-old forward signed a first professional contract with the Dutch club in 2022 after two seasons at Manchester City’s academy.

In the Eredivisie defeat by NEC Nijmegen on Sunday, Shaqueel was named in Feyenoord’s first-team squad for the first time in 2025.

In the 81st minute of Feyenoord’s Europa League defeat to Celtic, he made his senior debut four days later.

Afterward, former Arsenal and Manchester United forward Robin said, “I made that call as a coach, not as a father because we needed a goal.”

Shaqueel is a player who can score goals from all directions. I brought him on for that reason.

From the perspective of a father, it’s always a special moment when your son makes his debut. But I wasn’t all that focused on enjoying that moment; instead, I was engaged in my craft like Shaqueel.

The London-born teen only had one shot in Celtic’s box, meaning he had no chance to make an impact.

One minute after his introduction, Martin O’Neill’s side scored their third goal, bringing the score to 2-1.

“Added Robin,” Shaqueel, as one of the players, is how I see him. When we both already worked together a few years ago, we both agreed on this. I think Shaweel handled that really well, too, in my opinion.

“We will have a nice moment, when we are proud of each other, when we are home, of course.” Shaqueel deserves my respect because, like every player who makes their debut, there is a whole process unfolding before he does. He put in a lot of effort, deserved it, and it’s a special moment for him.

Johan Cruyff, a hero as a player and manager with Ajax and Barcelona, is one of football’s most renowned names.

During Johan’s time as Barca boss, his son Jordi played 54 games for the Spanish giants before leaving the club in the summer of 1996.

By standard standards, Jordi had a respectable career, having played for Manchester United and nine times for his country, but he was unable to live up to his father’s renowned status.

Jamie Redknapp started and ended his professional career with various clubs, where he totaled 38 games. At the age of 16, he survived at Bournemouth under the direction of his father before relocating to Liverpool in 1991. And he left Southampton at the age of 31 in 2005 after retiring due to an injury six months later.

Under his father Steve, Alex Bruce managed more games than any other manager, registering for 116. That was in 2005-2006 at Birmingham, followed by three years of work at Hull.

Zinedine Zidane, a legend at Real Madrid, actually played two of his sons. Goalkeeper Luca and midfielder Enzo both scored in Copa del Rey games while goalkeeper Luca also played two La Liga games.

Darren, a midfielder for Manchester United before joining his father’s squad for the 1992-1993 Premier League championship, left in 1994 for Wolves.

Giuliano Simeone has previously played on loan at Zaragoza and Alaves, but hasn’t played for his father Diego at Atletico Madrid for the majority of his career.