London: BBC Sport are reporting that Arsenal have left out Robin van Persie from their tour squad after receiving bids from Manchester City, Manchester United and Juventus.
The Gunners are scheduled to leave for their tour of Asia on Saturday and while Van Persie was expected to travel with the team, it has now emerged he will stay behind in London after both Manchester clubs and Serie A champions Juve tabled offers for the Netherlands international.
Arsenal are reported to have received £15million bids from all three sides, but are keen to hold out for a fee in the £25-30m region.
Van Persie enjoyed his best campaign to date last season as he netted 37 goals in 48 appearances, claiming both the PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards in the process.
However, he stunned the club earlier this summer when he announced he would not be renewing his current deal with Arsenal, which is set to expire next summer.
The Gunners initially stated their intention of holding him to the remainder of his deal, but it remains to be seen if they will risk losing him on a free if they receive an acceptable offer.
The Van Persie saga is shaping up to be a carbon copy of those that saw Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri both sold last summer, something which dragged on towards the tail end of the transfer window.
City and Juve have long been linked with Van Persie but the apparent interest from United is something more recent and could spark a bidding war for his services.
Arsenal have already signed two new strikers in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud but are also said to be lining up Spain star Fernando Llorente were Van Persie to leave.
BDST: 1748 HRS, July 21, 2012
Edited by
Chanchal Ghosh, Newsroom Editor
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