Arsenal fullback Bacary Sagna says Robin van Persie can take his place among the game's best.

Sagna reckons the Dutchman can now be ranked alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the planet's top stars.

The full-back told The Sun: "Robin is now part of the best players in the world. The English league is one of the hardest in the world and he was flying.

"He was scoring very good goals from strange positions. He showed great strength of character. He is our captain, our leader off and on the pitch.

"He's the Player of the Year and hopefully he'll do well with Holland at Euro 2012 this summer."