Robin van Persie slammed the criticism towards Raheem Sterling following his Feyenoord debut as "totally out of order" and "inappropriate".

Sterling, who left Chelsea by mutual consent in January, joined the Eredivisie side on a deal until the end of the season.

The winger made his debut as a substitute against Telstar last week, but was subjected to harsh criticism after what was his first game since May 2025.

Feyenoord boss Van Persie subsequently leapt to the defence of "an absolute top player".

"I thought [the criticism] was totally out of order," Van Persie said. "I found some of those responses delightfully Dutch: stating bluntly what was wrong."

"If you have any sense of context, where Raheem comes from, what he has achieved in the past and that he hasn't done any team training for months.

"I understand that there are expectations of an absolute top player. His career is quite remarkable. We are talking about an absolute top player who has won almost everything there is to win.

"But to write him off like that after half an hour, his first half-hour after six months. Then you really don't understand anything at all.

"Six to eight weeks down the line. If you then feel that he's not delivering, and you have a well-founded opinion about that, then I say: you have a point. 

"But to express strong opinions based on his first half hour, I think that's inappropriate."

Sterling finished his Feyenoord debut with 17 touches, while he won two of his four duels and lost possession six times.

The 31-year-old will look to make more of an impact when Feyenoord take on FC Twente on Sunday.