Originally Posted by All We'll Drive

I'm ok with them going for Cavani, but I'd like to see them give Lukaku a chance. I think with some game time he could be a good replacement for Drogba.

Originally Posted by The Times

Arsenal are prepared to inform Robin van Persie, the club’s captain, that he will not be permitted to leave the Emirates Stadium this summer, forcing the 28-year-old to see out the remaining year of his contract.

The Holland striker revealed this month that he did not intend to sign an extension to his present deal — due to expire in June 2013 — at the North London club, with Manchester City, Manchester United and Juventus, the Italian champions, all ready to submit offers in the hope of luring away last season’s Barclays Premier League leading scorer.

Although Arsenal have professed throughout the saga their hope of keeping their talismanic forward, it is believed they have yet to furnish Van Persie with a formal contract offer to rival those he has received from Manchester or Turin.

That will not stop his employers adopting a hardline stance, however, and telling Van Persie this week that no bid for his services will be accepted. Instead, Arsenal will tell the striker they are prepared to risk losing him for nothing in a year’s time.

Arsenal’s resolve will be tested in the coming days when bids are received from all three of Van Persie’s suitors. The forward’s preference is City, the Premier League champions, although a number of his closest advisers are believed to favour a switch to Old Trafford, feeling Van Persie’s style would fit more naturally in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

The most lucrative offer, though, is from Italy. Juventus’s package, worth about €8 million (£6.3 million) a year after tax, would make the Dutchman the highest-paid player in Serie A, once Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s move from AC Milan to Paris Saint-Germain is finalised.

That Van Persie is prepared to turn down that offer suggests his primary motive in deciding to leave Arsenal is not pecuniary. Instead, he is thought to favour City’s £250,000-a-week package ahead of the £175,000 a week, or thereabouts, available at Old Trafford.

Roberto Mancini, the City manager, has been told he must trim his squad, and his wage bill, before he can make a formal offer for Van Persie.

Emmanuel Adebayor is close to agreeing a move to Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent last season on loan, but City would prefer to clear out Edin Dzeko, Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tévez before moving for the Dutchman. That stance may change, though, should bids for City’s surplus squad members not materialise soon.

Ferguson says that United’s priority is regaining the Premier League title. “After the disappointment of last year, we want to recover the title,” he said.

The Scot is expected to make a formal offer for Everton’s Leighton Baines, bolstering a defence that may include Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling, both recovering well from injury, from the start of the season.

Decent bets

Chelsea are expected to have a £25 million bid accepted by Internacional for Oscar, the Brazil midfielder. “They know the price they have to pay,” Giovanni Luigi, the Brazilian club’s president, said. Chelsea are also close to signing Thorgen Hazard, the 19-year-old brother of Eden, from Lens.

Mathieu Debuchy, the Lille right back, said yesterday that completing a £7 million move to Newcastle United was “his priority”.