By Michael Lynch
January 23 2004

Robin van Persie, who Arsenal have had an offer rejected for, will now probably become the subject of a price war after the Feyenoord chairman told the world about the bid.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has benn outsmarted by Feyenoord, by announcing to the world they have turned down a bid, Arsenla will have to up their bid as they'll get competition from other parties.

The Arsenal boss said: "Have we signed him? No we haven't. Have we approached Feyenoord? I cannot tell you that as we always keep our negotiations secret.

"All I can say is when a chairman comes out and says that Arsenal have made a bid, he is putting the player on the market. It is then difficult for him to keep the player."

He added: "It's getting very difficult in our business to be masters of things. Once things are public, you have even less influence on things so, of course, that's a worry for me.

"You only provoke competition as you might have been on a case alone. You can also provoke local reaction against the deal, with possibly fans putting pressure on the chairman not to sell. Multiple things can possibly harm a deal that can sometimes be done quietly."

Asked if such a tactic would make him less likely to sign a player, Wenger nevertheless admitted: "No, I'd just say that it makes it more difficult and it could be more expensive.

"Does it force a price-war? Not always but it can happen. I don't know what the interest of making it public is if you want to make do a deal."

 

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