Fergie tries to pinch van Persie from City
The Irish Examiner understands that United feel they have made a very persuasive case to the forward, despite competition from Juventus and Manchester City. Van Persie is known to be a long-time supporter of the Serie A club but, although he would hugely welcome the opportunity to play in Turin, he is less willing to accept the kind of reduced wages such a transfer would necessitate, given his market value. Juventus are apparently struggling to come up with the funds to get anywhere near the Manchester clubs.
United’s confidence, however, is complicated by the fact van Persie’s representatives reportedly agreed a deal in principle with City earlier in the summer.
The Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, is understood to have been very vocal that van Persie go anywhere except the reigning English champions, given the bad feeling between the clubs over recent transfers.
Having sensed an opening and contacted van Persie’s representatives, United believe they may have turned his head, with Ferguson breaking usual procedure by commenting publicly on the move on MUTV yesterday.
“Obviously, Arsenal have given out the fact that we’ve made a bid for him. We try to keep business as close as possible to us until the moment we conclude a deal. There’s no point talking about something that might not happen. There are other clubs interested in the player. We’ve shown an interest and that’s where we’re at at the moment.”
Van Persie is also not travelling with Arsenal on their pre-season tour of Asia, with the club now accepting he will go but holding out for a fee of over £20m.
All three suitors have still to match that price.
And, given United’s recent restricted transfer policy as well as the age and injury record of van Persie, many at Old Trafford have been surprised at the zeal with which Ferguson has pursued the transfer. The manager apparently feels it would be a genuine coup and statement of intent to beat City to his signature after last season, while also envisaging van Persie in a staggered, speedy forward line that features Wayne Rooney and new signing Shinji Kagawa behind him. Ferguson is also prepared to sacrifice his pursuit of a midfielder, putting extreme faith in the similarly injury-prone Tom Cleverley.
Should van Persie eventually sign for United, it would have consequences for existing forwards like Danny Welbeck and the Irish Examiner understands the young Englishman’s latest contract negotiations have broken down.
Similarly, with United also looking to get Dimitar Berbatov off the wage bill, a move for left-back Leighton Baines is on hold as they refuse to meet Everton’s high asking price.
Should United fail to get van Persie, they have a fall-back option as they also retain interest in Sao Paulo’s prodigy Lucas Moura.
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