Van Persie agent admits to Manchester City meeting

Arsenal striker's representative, Kees Vos, reveals to Goal.com that he was a guest of the Premier League champions' director Brian Marwood at the Etihad Stadium three months ago

 

 

EXCLUSIVEBy Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Robin van Persie’s agent has admitted to being a guest of Manchester City executive Brian Marwood at an Etihad Stadium match.

Kees Vos, the Arsenal striker’s principal representative, has told Goal.com that he was entertained by Marwood at City’s home ground “about three months ago”.

Vos denied that the meeting was to discuss a possible transfer for his superstar client to the newly crowned Premier League champions.

But the revelation will do little to dampen the fears among Arsenal fans about the uncertain future of their captain and talisman, who, as revealed by Goal.com on Monday, will hold crunch talks with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis on Wednesday.

“Yes, I was a guest of Marwood at Manchester City, that is true,” Vos told Goal.com. “It was about three months ago.

“I meet a lot of people. Why do I need to explain? I work for a company that has 450 clients and 350 international players.

“I am not just the agent for Robin. I also represent Thomas Vermaelen, Keisuke Honda, Jeremain Lens and Stefan de Vrij.”

Despite the denials of Vos, who is the chief executive officer of Holland-based Sports Entertainment Group, the players most likely to be of interest to City are clearly Van Persie and Vermaelen, who signed a new four-year Arsenal contract last October.

Marwood, City’s director of football administration, is the club’s most senior football executive and has worked closely in the past with manager Roberto Mancini and the club’s Abu Dhabi owners on blue-chip signings.

Van Persie will meet Wenger and Gazidis in London on Wednesday, when he is expected to tell the club either of his desire to either stay at Emirates Stadium or leave Arsenal this summer.

The Dutchman was non-committal about his future on Sunday afternoon after helping Arsenal finish third in the Premier League with a 3-2 win at West Brom. “We will have a chat next week and we will go from there,” he said.

It is believed that Arsenal will tell the Dutchman that they intend to hold him to a contract that runs until 2013 even if he refuses to sign the new deal that is set to be offered at the meeting.

Because of his age, Arsenal regard Van Persie, who turns 29 in August, as a £20 million asset and believe it is worth risking him running down his contract and selling him for nothing in a year’s time.

Real Madrid and Juventus are among the other clubs closely monitoring the striker’s contract talks.

 

Source : Goal.com