A point of principle for Arsene Wenger NOT to sell van Persie to Manchester United

(Getty)

” There are more than three weeks left in the transfer window and there’s only one club left in the hunt for Robin van Persie.

Well, two actually.

That’s because everyone appears to have disregarded Arsenal in this and just assumed that van Persie would be sold to the highest bidder.

Manchester United are the last club standing in the battle to sign van Persie. Van Persie has told Juventus he doesn’t want to join them.

And in one of those conversations that are not supposed to take place between club and player, van Persie has done the same with Manchester City. So much for that being a done deal.

There’s been interest from other mega wealthy clubs – Paris Saint Germain and Anzhi Makhachkala – but it’s never got off the ground because he doesn’t want to go to either of those.

I think he was seriously tempted by Juventus – until their title-winning coach Antonio Conte got embroiled in Italy’s match fixing scandal. As someone in van Persie’s management company tweeted, it was “hardly the advert” to go to Italy .    

So it’s Manchester United or bust for van Persie. And the fact is that Arsenal do not want to sell to a direct Premier League rival . That would be the same were City still in the running.

These days, people assume when a deal like this gathers momentum the it’s just a matter of time before it happens, such is the power of the player in getting what he wants.

Trouble is, it is very apparent from talking to people (for the millionth time this summer) close to the deal on Wednesday that Arsenal do not want to sell to Manchester United. Full stop.

They see them as a direct rival. While Juventus might have had an offer accepted for £20m, the price for United is higher. I actually think £25m is a conservative estimate. If Arsene Wenger has his way then it will be £30m.”

Continue reading why John Cross argues that the deal is far from a foregone conclusion