Most of the papers I saw this morning going with City pushing all out for RVP. Not saying we should consider selling him if he wants to sign an extension, but if City are interested I bet we could get a truck load of money. I reckon we'd get £30+ million out of them lot, even with just 1 year left.

City are so ridiculous, they've got Balotelli, Dzeko, Tevez, Aguero and Adebayor on their books. That's probably 5 of the top dozen strikers in the country and about £150 million in transfer fees alone.

Only a matter of time before some people start to get carried away at the thought of how much money we could extract from City if we were to cash in on Robin

Mancini also said:

"I think Robin van Persie will sign a new contract with Arsenal because, if Arsenal lose him, they will have a big problem,"

"I think Arsenal will buy good players in the summer.

"Arsenal is a top team. They want to win the next Premier League, so for these reasons I think he will stay."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17296185?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

y va marquer wrote:

Only a matter of time before some people start to get carried away at the thought of how much money we could extract from City if we were to cash in on Robin

I mentioned figures because it seemed like a natural corollary to the press speculation, not because I want to extract a certain amount from City. I obviously want him to sign an extension.

It wasn't directed at you Tim, your post just got me thinking that the more blinkered amongst the profit obsessives who run the club will be tempted by City's advances.

Tim would be so misunderstood if you were not around Dula.

Dules is saying that I obviously want RVP to stay on, just that I was talking money after reading the back pages.

So Tim, what is your take on all this?

Sign him up asap! Or City will come wiv da millionz!

I'd rather he went to the Catalan devils before City.
I hope City's sponsorship is nullified

If Arsenal doesn't resign RVP, then more shame on AFC...

I doubt RVP will sign anything before this summer. I'm not overly confident that we can persuade RVP to stay, but I still think we have a good chance. I think a lot will be dependant on our form come the tail end of the season. We have not been finishing strongly for a few years with the last three particularly deflating for us fans and must be true for the more ambitious of our players as well.

We will probably want/try to get a deal thrashed out before RVP heads off for the Euros and the more confident he is of our future chances before then the better for us. Part of me believes that the timing of the unofficial "Podolski agrees Arsenal deal" reports is down to the Arsenal media department trying to add to the increased optimism of fans from recent results and as a ploy to show RVP that the club is ambitious and has potential after beating Milan 3-0. If the optimism generated inspires the team to get at least 4th and quite possibly 3rd place, then chances are that we can secure RVP to a new deal very soon after the season finishes.

Despite being poor/average for large spells of the season so far, the team has a good opportunity to cement a top 4 place because of Liverpool's inability to finish off games and Chelsea's current turmoil. Tottenham are also with reach. The team has wasted better opportunities when in recent seasons when the rewards on offer were far greater than just a Champions League spot and so it is up to the rest of the team to show that they can at least match the reduced expectations. If we screw this up, or just scrape into 4th, then I think the chances of RVP staying are very slim.

http://nos.nl/video/346022-van-persie-kijkt-uit-naar-wembley.html

Saw a translation of this video on A-M, not very revealing, but some interesting snippets from Robin in there.

van Persie interview, in Dutch:

BM: The question on everybody’s lips is: ‘What is he [RvP] going to do next year?’

RvP: Yes, we will see.

BM: Are you struggling with this?

RvP: No, not at all. I am doing fine, enjoying everything, training well, I am fit – knock on wood (he taps the microphone) – and all is going well.

BM: But what about people saying: ‘It’s a bit of a shame – Van Persie, who is head and shoulders above everything, playing in an Arsenal side which is not quite the very best of Arsenal sides ever’?

RvP: Well that’s funny, isn’t it? People consider this Tottenham team as the best ever and our team as the ‘worst’ (he makes a quotation mark with his fingers) ever, and we beat them 5-2: it is a bit crazy sometimes…

BM: Does that nag/hurt you a bit?

RvP: Sorry – what do you mean?

BM: Because I know why this is: everybody regards Arsenal as a higher-up team, and Tottenham, yeah – well, a bit lower-down, and when they are doing OK and Arsenal are doing less, well then people will say: oh how well Tottenham are doing, and Arsenal are performing less (below par).

RvP: Yeah, yeah, that is correct. Expectations are very high at Arsenal: we have a gigantic, beautiful, big stadium, a great number of fans, very beautiful history and people expect that we perform well right now – in the present.

BM: Do you think you [Arsenal] are performing well?

RvP: No, it can always be improved, we go for the highest achievable. In the last few years, as a club, we have not achieved that, so in that respect it has not been good enough.

BM: Are you somebody who will try his utmost with this club to still achieve success?

RvP: Well yes, I have been there eight years of course, and I am proud of that, and at the end of the season we will calmly sit down with the manager and the chairman and we will have a ‘nice cup of coffee’ (in Dutch: ‘dan gaan wij een bakkie doen’, which could not be more Dutch if you tried), all of us together, nice and cosy (in Dutch: ‘gezellig’ referring to a very friendly/informal sort of meeting/conversation).

BM: Because I feel you have become a ‘club player’ over there…

RvP: Yes, I am a real Gunner, which goes without saying, I have been there eight years, I love this club, that is no secret, and that will always stay like that.

BM: Therefore, would leaving now be ‘blasphemy’?

RvP: Well once again, at the end of the season, we are going to have a calm/relaxed talk about it, and then we are going to talk about a number of things, which I do regularly with the manager, and because of that occasion [contract talks] the chairman will be there as well.

BM: You are going to make the final decision then [at that meeting]?

RvP: Dan gaan we een bakkie doen: that is when we are going to have a nice cup of coffee.

They should have Kroenke sitting their too and they should give him whatever he wants, whether thats more money or more players or whatever.

I think/hope he just wants the club to show some ambition. Podolski is a start, another WC player should do the trick

Sell him for 25m or force him to stay and risk losing him for free after a year? It's a no brainer for me, we should do the latter.

Let's face it, we won't spend even half that 25m on a quality replacement if we were to sell him, we are most likely going to rely on a project upfront. We can't fuck around with our 1st team anymore, battle for 4th is getting harder. I believe we'll be in a much better position to lose him in 18 months, by then we'll have a much more settled team and most of our young players(Jack, Ox, Ramsey, Chesney, Coq etc) would have developed into much better players. And who knows, if we really show ambition in the summer and bring in top quality players we might have a very good season(I think we will) and that might just be enough to convince Robin to stay and be another legend like Bergkamp.

A must keep, should not be sold.

Just to play devil's advocate, what if he gets injured and misses four months next season?