Robin van Persie is closing in on a £20million-plus move to Manchester United after Arsenal officially began negotiations with the Red Devils.
According to the Daily Mirror,
Arsenal and United on Tuesday night held talks about a deal which could
go through before the Premier League kick-off this weekend.
United,
rivals Manchester City, and Italian champions Juventus have all seen
bids for Van Persie rejected in the past few weeks, and manager Sir Alex
Ferguson last week admitted he is trying to work out a deal for the
29-year-old.
United are understood to have
tabled a bid of around £15m last month, and earlier this week it was
reported that Ferguson was preparing to return with an improved offer in
the next 48 hours worth around £20m.
And
according to Wednesday's report, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is likely
to agree to a fee of just above £20m as the Gunners look to avoid
losing Van Persie on a free transfer next summer.
Man
City and Juventus are both understood to have cooled their interest in
the Netherlands international, leaving Arsenal with little option to
sell to United unless they want to keep their skipper at Emirates
Stadium until his contract expires.
Should a
deal not go through before the weekend, Van Persie could be left out of
Arsenal's Premier League opener against Sunderland, meaning he has
likely played his last game for the club.
Although
United are yet to agree a fee for Van Persie, they were on Tuesday
night at their shortest ever price to sign the Dutchman before the end
of the month. Bookmakers Sky Bet offer just 1/6 that Van Persie is a Manchester United player when the summer transfer window closes, while Bet Victor go even shorter at 1/8.
Several
bookmakers had reported on Tuesday a flurry of activity as punters back
RVP to move to the north west before the transfer window closes.
Will RVP join Man Utd this month? Say something! below.
No comments:
Post a Comment