Arsenal's Van Persie the £25m Real deal?

Arsenal's predator Robin van Persie and not Manchester City's Sergio Aguero could be heading to Real Madrid this summer, according to reports in the British press.

The La Liga leaders will test Arsenal’s resolve to keep Dutch international Van Persie with a £25 million bid, according to the Express.

Madrid had been battling Barcelona to try to sign Neymar from Santos, but with the Brazilian destined for the Nou Camp Van Persie has emerged as Real's No.1 target.

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero was also among the Spanish club’s top targets.

Real were linked with a £35 million swoop for the Argentine striker who has 24 goals to his name already this term.

But The Sun claimed in an exclusive that Aguero plans on staying at the Etihad for the long term as they home in on their first Premier League title since 1968.
 
City themselves want Van Persie and are prepared to hand him a £200,000-a-week contract.

However, Van Persie could remain loyal to Arsenal who are willing to offer a new £125,000-a-week deal, plus a signing-on fee and £5m loyalty bonus to stay.

The board have also discussed rejecting all bids for their top scorer if he does not agree an extension to his current deal that expires in 2013.

But Madrid could turn the head of Van Persie, who has 37 goals for club and country this season.

It is a record placing him among the all-time greats, according to the man trying to come up with a plan to stop him on Saturday, Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish.

“Van Persie seems to have gone to another level,” said McLeish, above. “He has mental toughness, he has shown he can regularly score in any company now. He has always been technically brilliant and I’d guess the learning curve for him was to get into the places where it hurts to score goals.

“He can score them differently – with his head, shots from the edge of the box, drives, tap-ins, chips. His finishing has been amazing this season.”

McLeish can only look on with envy at the top clubs and what Van Persie’s goals are doing for Arsenal.

“Van Persie has to be recognised as one of the best players in the world at the moment,” said McLeish when asked if he ranked with Lionel Messi and Cristian Ronaldo.

“If Van Persie gets the same amount of goals, or even close to it next season or the one after, he is going to be mentioned in the same breath.

“I came up against him early in his career when Rangers played Feyenoord, I think he scored in Holland. We knew then he was going to be a superstar.

“Arsene Wenger must be counting his blessings Van Persie has not had an injury. In the last couple of years when Arsenal have lost Van Persie they’ve had that dip.

“It’s laughable people have been questioning Wenger. His prowess is phenomenal.”

Meanwhile, Aguero wants to mark his first year with a Premier League title medal and hopes it will be the first of many in a sky-blue shirt rubbishing speculation of an exit.
 
City's top scorer said: "None of the stories about Real Madrid have come from me and the City fans can rest assured I am happy here.
 
"First and foremost, the major aim is to win the league title this season. Then I want to stay here for a long time after that.
 
"I'm very, very happy here. From the moment I arrived, everyone has treated me really well.
 
"It's down to me to repay that kindness and good feeling I've had from everyone with some performances out on the field."
 

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