Soccer:Alex Ferguson today confirmed Manchester United had made a bid for Arsenal captain Robin van Persie. It is believed that United failed to meet the Gunners' valuation of Van Persie, with Manchester City and Juventus having also fallen short.
Ferguson told MUTV: “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.”
United, City and Juve are said to be happy to pay somewhere in the region of €20 million but Arsenal are thought to be demanding in excess of €25 million for their star player. The Gunners are said to be prepared to hold out for more than €30 million for the 28-year-old, who they appear to have all but given up trying to convince to sign a new deal at the Emirates Stadium to replace the one that expires next summer.
The Van Persie saga is shaping up to be a carbon copy of those that saw Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri both sold last summer, something which dragged on towards the tail end of the transfer window. City and Juve have long been linked with Van Persie but concrete interest from United is something more recent and could spark a bidding war for his services.
Arsenal have already signed two new strikers in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud but are also said to be lining up Spain star Fernando Llorente were Van Persie to leave.
