Fergie confirms United bid for RVP

Sir Alex Ferguson today confirmed Manchester United had made a bid for Arsenal captain Robin van Persie. Press Association Sport understands United failed to meet the Gunners' valuation of Van Persie, with Manchester City and Juventus having also fallen short. "Obviously Arsenal have given out the fact that we've made a bid for him," Ferguson told MUTV. "We try to keep business as close as possible to us until the moment we conclude a deal. "There's no point talking about something that might not happen," he added. "There are other clubs interested in the player. We've shown an interest and that's where we're at at the moment." United, City and Juve are said to be happy to pay somewhere in the region of £15million, but Arsenal are thought to be demanding in excess of £20million for their star player. The Gunners are said to be prepared to hold out for more than £25million for the 28-year-old, who they appear to have all but given up trying to convince to sign a new deal at the Emirates Stadium to replace the one that expires next summer. Arsenal were expected to announce this afternoon whether last season's English Premier League top-scorer would join them on their pre-season Asia tour. After initially delaying that decision for 24 hours, the club later announced that the striker would in fact not travel with the team. City and Juve have long been linked with Van Persie, but concrete 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. From fifa