Juventus are prepared to spend up to £70 million to lure Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie to Turin.
The Serie A giants will offer Arsenal £20 million for the contract-rebel, who’ll be on a staggering £190,000 a week after tax for the next five years, according to the Daily Mirror.
Juventus looked to have pulled out of the running for the 28-year-old last week, after a source described their interest in van Persie as ‘exaggerated’. The news left Manchester United and Man City in a two-way battle for his signature.
But Giuseppe Marotta, general manager of the Serie A Champions, has reportedly held further talks with van Persie’s representatives and stressed they will top any offer made by the Premier League duo.
It is thought that van Persie favours a move to Italy and Arsenal would prefer not to sell the goal-machine to a direct rival.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to be keen to land the former Feyenoord striker but is not willing to pay more than £15 million – with Arsenal publicly holding out for closer to £35 million.
City meanwhile are desperate to sign van Persie but first need to ship out unwanted strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, both of whom are providing stubborn to shift.
The English Champions’ failure to move for the Dutchman, who scored 30 Premier League goals last season, has left City boss Roberto Mancini furious with his superiors.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are confident of sealing a £20 million deal for Malaga playmaker Santi Cazorla this week and want in excess of that figure for van Persie, meaning Juventus may have to dig even deeper to get their man.