Holland coach plays down Memphis Depay and Robin van Persie bust-up

Following reports of a bust-up occurring between the pair prior to Saturday's 2-1 victory over Kazakhstan, Dutch national team boss Danny Blind on Monday confirmed there had been an incident but was keen to play it down.

Blind, quoted by De Telegraaf, said: "There are sometimes situations in training where players think different.

"Then you talk about it. That's what happened and then it's over."

Blind, whose son is Depay's United team-mate Daley Blind, also stressed the episode had had no role in his decision to leave Van Persie out of his starting XI for the Kazakhstan game.

Van Persie - his country's all-time top-scorer with 49 goals in what is now 100 caps following his late substitute appearance on Saturday - left United to join Fenerbahce in July, a month after Depay's arrival at Old Trafford from PSV Eindhoven.

Training ground bust-ups are a fairly regular occurrence, so this is a bit of a non-story. Furthermore, the Dutch have form with regard to bust-ups – Edgar Davids was sent home from Euro 1996 after a pretty acrimonious fall out with Guus Hiddink but was then selected for World Cup 1998. They happen and people get over them.

What is of more interest is the unceremonious fall from grace of Robin van Persie. Van Persie was the leader of the Dutch team at the World Cup and scored arguably the goal of the tournament. Blind was fully justified to drop Van Persie particularly considering his travails at Fenerbache - and it would be very surprising if it had anything to do with this bust-up.