Arsenal Transfer News: Gunners Must Avoid Overpaying to Keep Robin van Persie

Arsenal star Robin van Persie continues to draw interest from the world's highest-spending clubs, with Russian giant Anzhi Makhachkala becoming the latest one to join the fray. Since so many teams are involved, the Gunners must make sure they don't overspend to keep the EPL's leading scorer.

Anzhi Makhachkala would be willing to offer Van Persie more than £45 million over three years to join the squad, according to the Daily Mirror. He would step in alongside Samuel Eto'o, who accepted a major deal of his own last summer.

When talking about figures that large, there's simply no way Arsenal would be able to match them. The Gunners, who have reportedly offered £130,000 per week, can't let Van Persie use that offer as leverage against them.

Staying within their means and leaving some flexibility for the future is more important than any single player. Even if that player carried the team on his back at times.

It's impossible to deny the Dutchman's talent. He scored 37 goals across all competitions for the Gunners this season and has finally developed into the dominant force they were expecting after acquiring him from Feyenoord eight years ago.

That said, it's also important to remember that he's coming off the best season of his career at age 28. He set highs in games played and goals while tying his high in assists. Injury issues always seemed to hold him back in the past.

So now that everyone knows what he can do when healthy for an entire season, his price has obviously gone through the roof. But any team that pays big money for one terrific year without considering his past will be making a mistake.

He will be 29 before next season begins, and it's tough to imagine him producing at an all-world level when he's 32. That makes any long-term contract a risk, especially when talking about they money Van Persie will receive.

A club with deep pockets like Anzhi Makhachkala would be able to overcome a failed signing. The same can't be said for Arsenal, which has to be more careful with the investments it makes.

Losing Van Persie would be a major setback for a team that stormed back to claim a Champions League spot for next season. But it wouldn't be as bad as overpaying to keep him and watching his injury-prone tendencies return, leaving the team in a tough spot for a handful of years.

Arsenal should continue to do whatever it can to convince Van Persie to stay at a more reasonable price. If money turns out to become the biggest deciding factor, the Gunners don't have a chance anyway, so they must stand firm.

Should he decide to stay at Emirates, they retain their top player and still have some wiggle room moving forward. If he leaves in search of greener pastures, they have plenty of room as they begin the search for the next great striker.

Either one of those options remains better than giving him a massive new deal and assuming all of the risk that comes along with it.