Football

Do City need Van Persie

Manchester City will look to retain the Premier League title after being crowned champions of England, for the first time since 1968, in the most dramatic end to a season in Premier League history. So far Roberto Mancini is yet to dip into the transfer market, and it is uncertain that the Italian who recently signed a five-year deal with the club will make big moves this summer.

Reports suggest interest in Arsenal’s want-a-way striker Robin Van Persie and Sky sources have claimed numerous offers have been made for last seasons Premier League top scorer. A move to City would put Van Persie alongside Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and for the time being Edin Dzeko, however the Bosnian looks likely to move to Italy in the coming weeks. City also still own the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, whose wages are proving a stumbling block in moving them on.

Robin Van Persie Transfer

Robin Van Persie Transfer

Whilst a repeat performance of last season from Van Persie would be beneficial to any club in world football, even one with such stars in their side already, his previous seasons at Arsenal are less impressive. In the 2011-2012 campaign he started 37 league matches and was a substitute in the other, scoring 30 league goals. In the previous campaign he scored 18 times starting 19 matches, however before that season his highest goal tally in the league was 11 in both the 2008-2009 and the 2006-2007 seasons, but between 2004 and 2010 he only managed to start more than twenty games once in the Premiership.

Van Persie will be 29 be the start of the season and is still likely to command a transfer fee of around £30million and wages upwards of £200,000 a week if he moved to the Etihad. Last season was the best of Van Persie’s career, a career that has been disrupted by injuries and his fair share of disagreements with teammates and whether or not the Dutchman, who had a poor European Championship, will be able to reproduce that form is far from certain.

City have already got fiery personalities in Tevez and Balotelli so the addition of Van Persie may unsettle the side that Mancini has just about balanced together to create the title winning success. My advice to Roberto would be to let this one go and look at a more direct replacement for Dzeko, if he goes, and possibly fight it out with Fergie for Lewandowski of Borussia Dortmund.

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