Knee injury keeps Van der Wiel from Brazil

Gregory van der Wiel has confirmed he was forced to rule himself out of Netherlands’ FIFA World Cup squad with a knee injury.

The defender was not named in Louis van Gaal’s preliminary squad for the finals, but has claimed the decision was his own.

Van der Wiel has featured on 35 occasions for Paris Saint-Germain this season but a persistent knee injury has caught up with him and the 26-year-old would not have been fully fit for the competition.

And the full-back admits he needed to think about his own future rather than risking further injury by playing in Brazil.

“I called the coach and said that it really was not possible,” he told AD. “I have suffered too long with my knee. I have had irritation of the tendon in my knee cap, I have played all year round with painkillers.

“I cannot do a full workout.

“I have been in consultation with the doctors and the coach, and made the decision not to go. It is a decision that I have taken with my head and not my heart.

“Brazil would have seemed to me really beautiful, but if you play for your country you should fit as a fiddle.

“Doctor Goedhart of the Dutch team also rightly said: ‘your health comes first’.

“Otherwise there could be chronic injury in the future. I need to be careful. “