Robin van Persie wants his future at Arsenal sorting as soon as possible as reports claim he favours a move to Juventus.
The Dutchman has returned to pre-season training with the Gunners following an extended break after Euro 2012 and he has told Gunners officials he wants his future sorting quickly.
The striker performing a u-turn looks unlikely so any meeting will centre around whether the Gunners will cash in or make him see out the remaining 12 months on his contract.
"Robin returned to training on Monday as expected and made it clear he wants to sit down and resolve the matter of his future, either way, as soon as possible," a club spokesman has been quoted as saying. "No date has yet been agreed for that meeting."
Manchester City have always been favourites to strike a deal but reports have claimed the player would like to leave the Premier League and join Italian giants Juventus.
Whether Juve have the cash to fund a deal remains to be seen but the future of the player should become a lot clearer in the next few days and weeks now that he is back at the Emirates Stadium.

ARSENAL TO SWIPE TOTTENHAM TARGET JAN VERTONGHEN

ARSENAL TO SWIPE TOTTENHAM TARGET JAN VERTONGHEN

JAN VERTONGHEN last night warned Tottenham to hurry up and sign him – or he will join Arsenal instead.

The Ajax captain claims he has already been shown around White Hart Lane and chairman Daniel Levy visited him in Amsterdam on Monday.

But the Belgian defender fears the deal will collapse following Spurs’ failure to win a Champions League place next season – with Ajax demanding £12.5m.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger also wants ­Holland’s player of the ­season, who’ll skipper ­Belgium against ­Montenegro tonight.

“I’ve said repeatedly that Tottenham are my first choice, but the talks haven’t progressed,” said centre-back Vertonghen, 25.

“They have shown me around, I have met all their key people and their ­chairman came to meet me on Monday. But Arsenal want me too. They remain a possibility if my Spurs move falls through, as Ajax are asking €15m for me.

“That is a lot of money for someone with just a year left on his contract.

“I’m sure Spurs won’t be able to pay that much ­after they missed out on the Champions League.”

Manchester United close in on midfield duo Kagawa and Hazard

Manchester United are set to make an improved offer of £13m for Shinji Kagawa.
The Borussia Dortmund midfielder has one year left on his contract but Sir Alex Ferguson wants to land him.

United are also confident Eden Hazard will choose to move Old Trafford this summer.

Manchester City and Chelsea are also fighting for Hazard’s signature but the Belgian winger has confirmed that his choice will ultimately be governed by regularly he will be a starter.

The Daily Star state that Eden Hazard is likely to complete a £32m Lille exit this summer and now this source suggests that Man United are in pole position to land the Belgian international on the basis that they are most likely to be able to offer the 21 year old regular first team football.

This logic is a little warped as one would imagine that any side willing to fork out £32m for Hazard would have every intention of playing the attacking midfielder at every opportunity, otherwise why spent such a sum on his services? Moving on from this obvious flaw in logic Sir Alex Ferguson will surely be keen to re-shuffle his Old Trafford pack after a silverware-less season and this £45m pair would certainly help him to do so.

Making successful moves for this duo would also send out a message to big spenders Man City and Chelsea that Man United are willing, and able, to battle both sides on a financial footing.

Man United could well do with adding more of a goal threat and some added creativity to their midfield and both Kagawa and Hazard would provide this in abundance. One wonders how Ferguson would accommodate the pair if he was indeed to snap up both talents.

Currently Ferguson opts for a fairly standard midfield set-up with Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick forming a central midfield pairing and two wingers either side of them but perhaps the Scot will instead look to employ a more advanced midfield presence supporting a front two? In which case Hazard and Kagawa have both been used in this role for both Lille and Borussia Dortmund respectively.

Spain wins and Germany Lost in Friendly

SPAIN CONTINUES TRADITION AND GERMANY LOST IN FRIENDLY AHEAD OF EURO 2012 COMPETITION

With the European Championship less than two weeks away, Spain showed it is in good shape to defend the title by beating Serbia 2-0 in its first warmup game.

Adrian Lopez boosted his chances of starting up front for the Spanish at the Euros by opening the scoring in St. Gallen in the 64th minute on his international debut, before earning the penalty that was converted by Santi Cazorla 16 minutes from time.

It wasn't such a successful night for two more of the continent's heavyweight sides, however, with a Germany team missing its Bayern Munich stars losing 5-3 in Switzerland and Portugal drawing 0-0 at home to Macedonia.

Portugal and Germany are in the same group at Euro 2012 along with the Netherlands, who hosted Bulgaria later Saturday.

Spain Win Serbian Test as they Defend title

Second-half goals from Adrian Lopez and Santi Cazorla were enough to hand a makeshift Spain side a 2-0 victory over Serbia in Saint Gallen.

Spain boss Vincente Del Bosque was without much of his squad as Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao were busy contesting the Copa del Rey final on Friday evening.

But the 2010 World Cup winners stepped up their preparation to defend their European crown as they cruised past the Serbs in this friendly in Switzerland.

La Furia Roja didn't have it all their own way in the first half - Xabi Alonso coming closest to breaking the deadlock before the break with an audacious effort from well inside his own half.

It was the introduction of Atletico Madrid forward Adrian, on his international debut, after the interval that provided the spark the world champions needed.

He headed home Jesus Navas' teasing cross and was then brought down by Branislav Ivanovic to allow Cazorla to seal the victory from the penalty spot with a quarter of an hour remaining.

Xavi expect tough game from Bilbao

The Spain international feels that Athletico Bilbao could cause the Catalans problems with their physical approach, and expects an even encounter.

"They are very demanding opponents, because they mark man to man. They are a physically strong side, they run for 90 minutes and create a lot of pressure up front," Xavi stated at a press conference.

"[Fernando] Llorente, for example, never stops running. Such intensity doesn’t leave us with much time to think. It’ll be a great match. I think it’ll be very tough and physical." 

He (Xavi) made the comment ahead of The Copa del Rey final on May 25.

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Former England prodigy, Liverpool, Madrid, Newcastle and United forward will consider Stoke City

The 32-year-old was let go by the Old Trafford club this week after making just four apperances in 2011-12, and Tony Pulis’ side are the bookmakers' favourite to land the former Real Madrid man.

football gossipStoke expressed interest in Owen when he was last available for free, after he departed Newcastle three years ago, and Coates says that he wouldn’t rule out Pulis making another approach.

The striker made just 31 appearances during three years in Manchester as he struggled with injury and competition with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Danny Welbeck.

Stoke already boast several former England internationals in ther ranks, including ex-Tottenham and Liverpool man Peter Crouch as well as defender Jonathan Woodgate.

Owen is based in the North West, and has ruled out dropping down the leagues, leaving the Staffordshire side as one of few in the area that meet his needs.

“The Championship is not an option. I'd like to think I haven't lost the ability to score goals at the highest level,” the forward declared earlier.


His goal against Manchester City in the theater of dreams is the most memorable goal in his voyage with the red devils.


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CHELSEA HERO TO BE OFFER NEW CONTRACT AT THE BRIDGE

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck says the club will hold talks with forward Didier Drogba about a new contract next week and hopes to appoint a permanent manager "sooner rather than later.''

Drogba, who scored the decisive penalty to defeat Bayern Munich in the shootout of the Champions League final on Saturday, is out of contract next month.

The 34-year-old Ivory Coast international joined the west London club from Marseille in 2004.

Buck says Sunday that Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay is likely "to sit down with his (Drogba's) agent this week and we'll see where it goes.''

Buck added that the club intends to appoint a permanent manager prior to the pre-season tour of the United States that starts with a match against Seattle Sounders on July.

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Despite rejections Liverpool FC continues manager hunt

Liverpool’s manager hunt continues in earnest despite some of the candidates distancing themselves from the challenging job at Anfield. Andre Villas-Boas is set to sit down with the Fenway Sports Group for a formal interview and he along with Wigan’s Roberto Martinez are considered the current front-runners. Swansea’s Brendan Rodgers and Borussia Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp rejected approaches from the Reds, choosing to continue their admired work at their respective clubs.

The club’s hierarchy have seemingly narrowed-in on a young manager who can imbibe a new philosophy into the team rather than bringing in an experienced campaigner who can get the best out of the current crop of players. Kenny Dalglish arguably failed in both those departments as the return from his large outlay on players has been meagre and the club haven’t improved a great deal during these turbulent years.

Wigan’s chairman Dave Whelan has warned Martinez about the Anfield hotseat and some sections of the Liverpool fans have already criticized the club for approaching the Spaniard. As Roy Hodgson found out the hard way, Merseyside can be a hard place to rule in when the crowd turn against you.

Villas-Boas faced a similar mutiny but from within his squad as the older players rejected his idea of revolution. The more damning aspect of his dismissal from Chelsea in March is the club’s meteoric rise since then, with Roberto Di Matteo leading them to FA Cup and Champions League triumphs. Liverpool need to get their next managerial decision spot on to prevent another period of uncertainty and their idea of instilling a manger for the long-term seems to point towards a sound plan.

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RVP set to be tempted with more than £300k per week contract offer

RVP might still be undecided over his future at Arsenal but his decision is sure to be clouded by Russian moneybags Anzhi, who are ready to dangle a £300,000 a week contract in front of the Dutchman. Guus Hiddink, who currently manages the Russian side, has spoken of his need to add three world-class players in the summer and one wonders if Van Persie could possibly be included in that list.

The Arsenal captain has only one year left in his current contract at the Emirates and talks with the club are currently on hold until the Euros are completed. Arsene Wenger hoped to complete the negotiations on a new £130,000 a week deal before the striker headed out to the Dutch squad but both parties have failed to reach a quick agreement.

And, it is bound to add fuel to the fire over the course of the next few weeks as his suitors, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona included, intensify their approach. The 28 year old has almost been the ‘Roy of the Rovers’ for the Gunners this season and losing him would cast their immediate future into serious doubt.

As for Anzhi, they managed to lure Samuel Eto’o with a £320,00 a week contract and they came close to securing the services of Wesley Sneijder in January. Van Persie isn’t considered to be one among the modern football mercenaries but stranger things have happened in football.

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Man Utd legend Solskjaer would consider Villa job

The Molde boss reportedly turned down the position on Saturday despite several hours of discussions with Villa owner Randy Lerner earlier this week.

The former Manchester United striker then returned to Molde to learn that the club's billionaire backer, Kjell Inge Rokke, had decided to withdraw his funding as a result of Solskjaer's actions.

In a further twist, Solskjaer has publicly defended his decision to speak to the Premier League club, stressing that it was just an 'informal chat'.

He also insisted that while he would be happy to see out his deal at Molde, he would also be willing to speak to Villa again.

"It's up to Aston Villa whether there's anything more," said the 39-year-old.

"I've only spoken with them and expect them to speak to more people. They're looking for a new manager. If they make contact, I'll make a decision then."

Solskjaer remains favourite to take the job at Villa Park and replace Alex McLeish, who was sacked last Monday after a disappointing 16th place finish.

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ROy to pair Gerald and Lampz for Euro

The duo have failed to form an effective partnership for the national team in recent years, despite their successes with Liverpool and Chelsea respectively.

But with both named in Hodgson's 23-man squad for the European Championships, he is refusing to rule out attempting to make the pairing work.

In Roy's words "I know it hasn't worked well in the past and that is why I don't want to say 'it is nonsense, of course it can work, I would be flying in the face of quite a lot of evidence you can put before me to prove it is not true. Sometimes players don't gel for certain reasons. I need to work with them to find that out for myself. I can't guarantee I won't be saying the same as other people once I've done that, but I am happy to give them a chance because I have seen them both do very good central midfield jobs for their club sides."

Hodgson also moved to stress his squad’s motivation to succeed with the Three Lions, outlining his captain Gerrard as the prime example.

"I know Steven is burning to bring the qualities he has got to England. He has made that perfectly clear to me," he added.

"I have been buoyed by some of the conversations I have had. You never know when you speak to players who have not always had the best of times and taken a lot of criticism for their performances.

"I wasn't certain I was going to get that enthusiasm - 'pick me, I want to play, give me that shirt, please don't take it from me'."

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Van Persie in danger of pricing himself out of move away from Arsenal

Robin van Persie is in danger of pricing himself out of a move from Arsenal with unrealistic wage demands.

The Holland striker’s talks over a new contract ended this week without a conclusion and Van Persie will head to the European Championship next month with his future in doubt.

However, reports are that Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City are baulking at the astronomical numbers associated with a bid for the 28-year-old.

As well as Arsenal demanding a transfer fee of more than £20million, sources in Spain claim that Van Persie wants to be paid in line with top earners such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who receive weekly wages upwards of £275,000.

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