Ramsey hopeful that RVP will stay, Fergie defends Glazers

Van Persie and Ramsey

Arsenal’s star striker Robin van Persie is the subject of heated transfer speculation, with both Manchesters United and City bidding for the player, and Italian giants Juventus also looking to land the Dutchman.

But Van Persie’s teammate Aaron Ramsey still believes there’s a chance the brilliant centre-forward could remain at the Emirates.

"He had a brilliant season last year and is a big player for us, so we are just hopeful that he will stay," said Ramsey, speaking while on Team GB Olympic duty.

"We don't know anything that goes on. We hope that he stays at Arsenal."

Arsenal have so far rejected all offers for van Persie, though with only one year left on the 28-year-old’s contract with the North London club it seems likely that the club would be forced to sell for the right price. Particularly since the player himself has issued a public statement insisting he would not sign a new contract.

Of course, Wayne Rooney made a similar public statement in 2010, before performing a u-turn a few days later. So there remains a faint hope that the man who scored 30 goals in the Premier League last season and was voted Player of the Year by both the PFA and the Football Writers Association could yet continue to play for Arsene Wenger’s side.

In other news, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has once again defended the much-maligned Malcom Glazer, the American owner of the Premier League club.

Since taking control of the club in 2005 there has been continual criticism of the Glazer family from United’s supporters, who have saddled the club with debts of $850m while raising ticket prices and increasing ticket prices by more than 40 per cent since the takeover.

But Ferguson has regularly refused to criticise the man who is effectively his boss, and speaking to national newspapers while on a pre-season tour of South Africa, the United manager insisted: “I am comfortable with the Glazer situation. They have been great.

"They have always backed me whenever I have asked them. I have never faced any opposition. They have always been as sensible as they can be in terms of financing the club. They have to invest in the team to maintain the value of their asset.

"I think there are a whole lot of factions at United that think they own the club. They will always be contentious about whoever owns the club, and that's the way it's always been.

"When the Glazers took over here there was dissatisfaction, so there have always been pockets of supporters who have their views. But I think the majority of real fans will look at it realistically and say it's not affecting the team. We've won four championships since they've been there, one European Cup."

Ferguson also confirmed that defender Chris Smalling would be ruled out of play for up to 10 weeks, after suffering a broken metatarsal in training earlier this week.

"It is a bad blow for the boy because he missed the end of the season with a groin injury," said Ferguson.

"We thought we had him on the right road to recovery and he gets another injury, which is bad news. He got it in training on Wednesday, was diagnosed on Thursday and we decided to operate on Friday night.”

Steve Colton

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