by AG7 » Fri Jul 20, 2012 11:05 am
RVP debate is surely hotting up after Arsenal have announced, he is NOT going with them to their pre-season trip to Asia ...
Here from Manchester Evening News just now ...
Robin van Persie debate: MEN Sport considers what is on offer in Manchester for RVP
July 20, 2012
Manchester City and Manchester United are going head-to-head for Robin van Persie - but where will he choose? Here, MEN Sport's James Robson argues the case for the Reds, while Stuart Brennan fights the Blue corner.
Case for the Reds
Sir Alex Ferguson is said to be confident Robin van Persie will spurn the riches on offer at City and opt for a move to United instead.
That would come as a surprise, not least to Roberto Mancini who has made the Arsenal striker his number one target this summer.
The Italian is also confident that a salary of around £220,000 a week, plus the chance to join the Premier League champions will be enough to lure van Persie to the Etihad Stadium.
So what should make Ferguson so confident?
At this point it must be added that the United manager also believed the glamour of Old Trafford would be enough to persuade Eden Hazard to spurn the attentions of City and Chelsea, only to see the Belgian playmaker instead head to Stamford Bridge.
Even this master of mind games cannot put a spell on everyone he comes across.
Unfortunately for Ferguson not every player can be convinced as quickly as Shinji Kagawa, who apparently needed just three minutes to decide that United was the only club for him.
In recent years Karim Benzema, David Villa, Samir Nasri and Wesley Sneijder have all resisted the temptation of a move to the Theatre of Dreams.
Ferguson, however, is banking on van Persie’s reputation as being cut from an altogether different cloth to your average footballer.
The Dutchman’s primary motivation, we understand, is not money – rather success as he approaches his 29th birthday.
Had he any faith in Arsenal’s ability to genuinely challenge for honours then his future wouldn’t be in question.
But faced with the knowledge that he is set to sign the last major contract of his career, he knows his next move is his most important.
It appears to be a three-way fight for his signature between the Manchester clubs and Juventus, though Real Madrid and Barcelona may yet enter the reckoning.
Ferguson’s hope is that having spent eight years in England, van Persie has an appreciation of United not shared by players like Hazard and Benzema.
He will have seen Arsenal, Chelsea and now City all challenge United’s dominance, only for Ferguson to respond with renewed vigour.
The United manager said this week that his side always comes back stronger in the face of adversity – and he has spent the summer plotting a way to avenge last season’s last-gasp title defeat.
One of the most exciting players in the Bundesliga, Kagawa, has already been recruited along with one of the brightest prospects in this country in Nick Powell.
Ferguson hopes to sign two more players before the start of the season – van Persie being one, while he retains an interest in Luka Modric.
Add van Persie to United’s squad last year and they would have been champions.
Ferguson’s worst fears were realised when losing out to City on goal difference – but with a man who hit the net 37 times in all competitions for Arsenal last season, it is impossible to imagine the same outcome.
Alongside Wayne Rooney, van Persie would form the most lethal strike force in Europe.
A perfect mix of explosive finishers, both capable of leading the line or dropping deep – if van Persie backs his own ability then he would surely be confident of achieving the success he craves at Old Trafford.
The question is whether he backs Ferguson’s ability to do what he has done so many times before.
Whether it be the millions of Jack Walker and Sir John Hall at Blackburn and Newcastle respectively, Arsene Wenger’s French revolution or Roman Abramovich’s billions – the Scot has always come up with an answer.
The latest poser comes from Mancini and City’s Abu Dhabi mind-boggling oil riches.
And with van Persie in his side, who would bet against him coming up with the perfect riposte once again?
Case for the Blues
If Robin van Persie truly is contemplating a move to United rather than City, he should remember one thing. The Reds will sell him a story about their history, while the Blues will tell him a tale of the future.
There is little doubt that the Blues have made the Dutchman their prime target for the summer, although they are not desperate to buy him. If Arsenal dig in their heels, and insist on silly money, City would be perfectly happy to stick with the four quality strikers they already have – and then step back in for van Persie in January, when he will be in the bargain bucket, or next summer, when he will cost nothing at all.
It would be insane for the Gunners to allow it to get to that stage, keeping a disgruntled player for half a season, or even a full season. As far as van Persie is concerned, United will probably point out that City already have a glut of strikers, with Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko.
But the fact is that one of those four will be allowed to leave if van Persie arrives, with Dzeko the most likely candidate. AC Milan are keen on taking him off City’s hands, but any hopes they have of getting him on the cheap should be forgotten.
As far as van Persie goes, it should be a no-brainer. City have won the Premier League, but there is no suggestion that they will stop there. This is not another Blackburn Rovers in 1995, when they won the league title, everyone exulted, and then promptly sat back to admire what they had achieved.
Mancini wants to establish a dynasty, and that means winning it again next year, and the year after, as he did with Inter Milan in Italy. He also wants to crack the conundrum of the Champions League, which eluded him in his four years as boss at the San Siro. That is where van Persie comes in.
Last season, the striker proved he belongs at the very top level, scoring 37 goals in 48 appearances for Arsenal. There is a body of opinion that he just hit a purple patch after years of injury problema and under-achievement, but his statistics don’t back that up – he scored 20 in 44 games in 2008-09.
But once Emmanuel Adebayor left to join City in 2009, and van Persie was switched to become the main striker, the scoring rate upped dramatically. In an injury-curtailed 2009-10 he scored ten in 20, and in 2010-11 he bagged 22 in 33 games. He is the perfect fit for City’s style, and could be the striker who turns the Blues from being the best team in England to genuine contenders in Europe. Van Persie, Aguero, Tevez, Balotelli – perm any three from four and it’s a strike force to scare the best European teams witless. Joining United would be a sideways step. There is no evidence that the Reds are building towards anything substantial after their Champions League flop last season.
Both Manchester clubs were dumped out of the competition at the group stage last season. City’s excuse was that they were novices in the competition, and were drawn against teams from the German, Spanish and Italian leagues, and were still eliminated after passing the usual qualifying mark of ten points. United have no excuse, as European veterans, drawn as first seeds in a group containing the average talents of Benfica and Basel.
Van Persie claims his next move will be about winning trophies. It is amazing that a player of his standing has been at Arsenal for eight years and has just one FA Cup winner’s medal to show for it. City are the club that has all the momentum after winning the league. In contrast, United have the feel of a club treading water, trying to keep their heads above the financial flood brought on by their owners’ mishandling.
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