It was confirmed yesterday that Barcelona will not be making a move for Robin van Persie this summer. But Juventus are reportedly ready to table a £25 million bid should the Dutch striker fail to sign a new deal at Arsenal.
Representatives of Van Persie have apparently held talks with the Italian club’s sporting director Fabio Paratici, while the Arsenal faithful feared the worst last week when the 28-year-old was spotted at the same hotel Barcelona were staying at before their Champions League clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
As I think every Gooner will or should be aware of by now, Van Persie, who was recently named the PFA and FWA Footballer of the Year, is out of contract at the end of next season.
Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester City have all expressed their interest in the in-form striker. However, Barcelona, who were thought to be weighing up a summer move for the Arsenal captain, have ruled themselves out of the running, according to club spokesman Toni Freixa.
Frexia told The Sport Review:
‘For Barça, any good player is of interest – and van Persie is a great player. But [we have] no intention of signing him for now.’
He went on to say that Van Persie’s visit to the hotel was nothing to do with business:
‘He came to our hotel in London because he is Dutch and so is Ibrahim Afellay. They had a coffee together. He didn’t come to see us and there was no conversation.’
So it appears we don’t have to worry about Barcelona trying to lure yet another one of our star players away this summer, and this is great news to hear.
All we have to do now is keep other interested clubs at bay! And, in my opinion, Juve will have to at least double their proposed bid to even think about acquiring our Flying Dutchman!
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