{"id":1995,"date":"2026-02-15T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/1995\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:40:09","slug":"how-robin-van-persie-exploited-a-little-known-loophole-to-get-around-raheem-sterlings-work-permit-problems-feyenoord-to-hold-camp-in-belgium-so-ex-chelsea-star-can-train-as-he-is-forced-to-watch-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/1995\/","title":{"rendered":"How Robin van Persie exploited a little-known loophole to get around Raheem Sterling’s work permit problems: Feyenoord to hold camp in BELGIUM so ex-Chelsea star can train as he is forced to watch new team’s defeat from the stands"},"content":{"rendered":"

By LEWIS BROWNING, SPORTS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 16:19 EST, 15 February 2026 | Updated: 16:31 EST, 15 February 2026 <\/p>\n

Raheem Sterling<\/a>‘s new club Feyenoord have set up an emergency training camp in Belgium so the winger can train with his new team-mates, it has been revealed.<\/p>\n

The former England star, who had his \u00a3325,000-a-week contract at Chelsea<\/a> torn up in January, joined the Dutch side this week to link up with former Manchester United<\/a> and Arsenal<\/a> man Robin van Persie.<\/p>\n

But an issue has arisen following the move, in that he is not allowed to even train with his new new team until he has a work visa – something that has not yet arrived.<\/p>\n

That, though, does not apply to everywhere. And, speaking after his side’s 1-0 win over Go Ahead Eagles on Sunday – which Sterling watched from the stands – Van Persie revealed that he will be taking his side to Belgium purely so they can integrate the 31-year-old into their sessions.<\/p>\n

‘That’s allowed abroad,’ Van Persie said of his new man’s availability to train. ‘We’re doing it for him, but I also want to work on our team development. We can have some good conversations and do something fun together.<\/p>\n

‘He’ll start training the day after tomorrow, (Tuesday). We’ll see each week when he’s fit for a match. That will take some time, but that seems logical to me, since he hasn’t played for six months.’<\/p>\n

\"Feyenoord <\/p>\n

Feyenoord are exploring a loophole that will allow Raheem Sterling to train with his new team\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Robin <\/p>\n

Robin van Persie is taking his side to Belgium, where Sterling will be able to get to work<\/p>\n

Sterling hadn’t played for Chelsea since May 2024, having been frozen out under former Blues manager Enzo Maresca and also not featuring under Liam Rosenior.<\/p>\n

He is yet to play a minute this season, with his last competitive game coming in May 2025, when he was on loan at Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Daily Mail Sport reported that the 82-cap Englishman had received interest from at least 18 clubs in Europe’s top leagues.<\/p>\n

But extensive discussions with Van Persie over his role at Feyenoord, complete with assurances of regular game time, convinced him to sign a deal until the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Sterling said: ‘As a free agent, I’ve had, for the first time in a long time, the opportunity to control the next step in my career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I wanted to take my time to speak with clubs and their head coaches to better understand the role they envisioned for me and ensure that I can add real value in this next chapter.’<\/p>\n

‘Having spoken in great detail with Robin, I’m confident that Feyenoord is a place I can be happy and establish myself as a valued member of the team. Playing abroad is a whole new challenge for me – and one I’m ready to embrace. Honestly, I’m just excited to get started.’<\/p>\n

Napoli, managed by Antonio Conte, were thought to be in the mix to sign Sterling, although the club played that down on towards the end of the transfer window.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The former Chelsea man currently can’t work due to the delay in the arrival of his work visa<\/p>\n

Sterling may hope that regular gametime abroad can be a launchpad for him to break back into the national team, for whom he last played in 2022 and from which he has not retired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Van Persie said following the move: ‘His football resume speaks for itself. He’s a player whose qualities can change the outcome of a game without a doubt, and \u200bI am convinced he will turn \u2060out to be a valuable addition to the team as \u200bwe work towards achieving our \u200cgoals in the second half of \u200bthis season.’<\/p>\n


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\n How Robin van Persie exploited a little-known loophole to get around Raheem Sterling’s work permit problems: Feyenoord to hold camp in BELGIUM so ex-Chelsea star can train as he is forced to watch new team’s defeat from the stands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By LEWIS BROWNING, SPORTS REPORTER Published: 16:19 EST, 15 February 2026 | Updated: 16:31 EST, 15 February 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1858,7,1820,1859,499,1860,1857],"class_list":{"0":"post-1995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-belgium","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-raheem-sterling","14":"tag-sport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}