by MARTIN BLACKBURN
Arsenal struggled without Van Persie here in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest against Manchester City — one of the clubs strongly linked with him.
And boss Wenger reacted angrily when he was asked about RVP — claiming the club have received no offers for the skipper.
Emirates sources say three sides, City, Manchester United and Juventus have made their moves.
But Wenger snapped: “We will not come back forever on Van Persie. We have many strikers at home. Van Persie is one of them.
“He is close to fitness, of course. But we have not had any more contact from City or United about him at all.
“The Van Persie case doesn’t cross my mind. We have had no offers. We have talked about Van Persie.
“We have just played a football game tonight, there are four English people here and there have been four questions about Van Persie.
“I have talked about that, I am not talking about that question any more. Do you understand?”
City have made enquiries for the £20million-rated Van Persie, who is out of contract next summer.
Roberto Mancini again admitted that he is a big fan but was cagey when asked about a bid.
The City boss said: “I think it is like this. If Wenger said this, I think it is true.
“Van Persie is one of the best strikers in the world, it is difficult to buy him.
“Have we made an offer? I don’t think so.”
Arsenal wasted chances in the first half of this pre-season game with Theo Walcott, Carl Jenkinson and Andre Santos going close.
But on 41 minutes Pablo Zabaleta — a surprise scorer on the last day of last season against QPR — latched onto Yaya Toure’s pass and buried his shot into the far corner.
Within three minutes, City were two up as Aleksandar Kolarov crossed from the left and Sergio Aguero knocked back for Yaya Toure to knock in at the far post.
Carlos Tevez, who has surprised everyone at City with his attitude and fitness since he returned from a summer break, caught the eye.
Wenger added: “For now, what is important is to see everybody play and get them into condition.”
The Frenchman also denied reports he is set to make a bid to sign Real Madrid’s Nuri Sahin on a long-term loan.
He said: “We haven’t signed anybody, this report is wrong. We are not signing anybody at the moment and we are not close.”
Mancini added: “We played a good game against a top squad like Arsenal.”
