IN the words of Robin van Persie, some Premier League stars are guilty of playing with 'the handbrake on' during matches.

These are the young millionaires who have become more interested in flash cars than putting everything into the job for which they are paid handsomely.

The Arsenal striker has played alongside fellow Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp, who retired at the Emirates Stadium just a few days after celebrating his 37th birthday.

And Van Persie, 27, also shares a close bond with Thierry Henry who is playing for New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer aged 33.

The player signed from Feyenoord for just £2.75million in 2004 suffered an injury-plagued season but still racked up 22 goals.

This week he was in the Dutch side that drew against Uruguay - just days after England's latest shambolic performance, the 2-2 draw with Switzerland.

England boss Fabio Capello claimed his stars were too tired to perform properly.

But while some players are happy to party hard, Van Persie is determined to make the most of his talent.

He said: "I'll finally stop when my game looks so bad or when my wife says 'Robin, you're putting me to shame.' For me I play football because I love it and that's why I want to keep doing it as long as possible.

"The really top players aren't fooled by riches, fame or exclusive cars because they are fully focused with their football.

"It isn't easy, as sometimes a certain amount of nonchalance can creep in and everywhere in the world you see it goes wrong when players start playing casually with the handbrake on.

"I was in New York not so long ago and saw Thierry Henry playing. When you see him chasing and playing with so much desire it's fantastic.

"Thierry wants to win the championship in America and he's still hungry to win, in that he's a true lover of the game. I also have that in me.

"I really hope that I can keep on playing as long as him.

"Look at Van Nistelrooy, Seedorf, Van der Sar, Bergkamp - they managed to keep on playing for so long and still are because they lived like true professionals.

"It's important that one must not stay too long dwelling over disappointments.

"I fully believe what my national coach Bert van Marwijk says - that you always have to keep going and through that you can achieve other nice things.

"This only stops when your career is over and until then you have to have to be continuously highly motivated and passionate in every match.

"Desire and motivation is 60 per cent, 70 per cent decisive in what level a player reaches in his career."

Speaking of disappointments, however, they do not come much lower than the last few months of Arsenal's season.

Arsene Wenger's team appeared to be powering towards a momentous campaign as they chased trophies on four fronts.

Yet along came the Carling Cup final against Birmingham on February 27. And it all went embarrassingly wrong.

They lost that game 2-1, went out of the Champions League to Barcelona, lost in the FA Cup at Manchester United and slumped to fourth in the Premier League Yet Van Persie, who arrived shortly after Arsenal bagged their last League title in 2004, has seen these disappointments before.

He now hopes Wenger will make the signings which could make his team a major force.

But looking back on recent seasons, Van Persie says the club should no longer be expected to win the title.

He said: "Every year it goes wrong in an identical way and that is frustrating. When you look at results in the last years, Arsenal shouldn't be talking about winning the League because too many times that has gone wrong.

"Of course the hunger and desire is great but sometimes you have to eat and be realistic.

"But I believe with the signing of a number of players, we should be in there competing for the prizes.

"Even now, it's still unbelievable we didn't win the Carling Cup as that was the breakthrough moment, showing everyone we could win a cup and create a belief within the team.

"When I talk about that it still hurts. It was so stupid and I ask myself 'how did that come about?'

Van Persie is also disappoionted that yet another campaign saw him hit by injury, even though he was deadly in front of goal.

The Dutchman ended with 18 Premier League strikes, two behind joint Golden Boot winners Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov.

Van Persie said: "I was in a flow then and if I hadn't picked up an injury then for sure I would have been the top scorer in England.

"As far as scoring goes, this was the best season of my career but unfortunately once again we didn't win any prize."