Man United fear Van Persie will cost £30m as Fergie rivals City and Juventus for star

Posted Saturday, July 21, 2012 by Dailymail

Manchester United fear it could take as much as £30million to prise Robin van Persie away from Arsenal.

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that he has made a bid for Van Persie, with United ready to battle rivals Manchester City and Juventus for the 29-year-old Holland striker.

But club sources believe United will have to raise their opening offer to close to the record £30.75m it took to sign Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham four years ago, and there is also concern that Ferguson’s chequered history with Arsene Wenger could also be a major stumbling block in any deal.

Speaking to the club’s in-house television station MUTV, Ferguson said: ‘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.

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‘There are other clubs interested in the player. We’ve shown an interest and that’s where we’re at at the moment.’

When asked about it later on Friday evening, Ferguson initially denied talking about Van Persie.

But after being informed that his comments were already on the club website he said: ‘I think Arsenal came out with a statement saying we made a bid. You know we try to do business before we announce anything and that’s what we’re going.'

Arsenal have sparked a three-way bidding war but are determined to play hardball before losing their best player.

The Dutchman’s career at Arsenal is all but over after it emerged he would not be flying out with the squad on the pre-season tour of south east Asia on Saturday.

Sportsmail understands three separate offers for Van Persie were submitted on Tuesday, with United offering in the region of £8million, Juventus £10m and City £12m — but all three offers were turned down by Arsenal chiefs, who want at least £20m for last season’s Footballer of the Year.

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