Arsenal Transfer News: Juventus Reportedly Plot Move for RVP and Luis Suarez

This was a move we never saw coming.

Juventus will reportedly try and sign Arsenal captain Robin van Persie over the summer transfer window by picking up Liverpool striker Luis Suarez also, and hoping that the potential combination is enough for the Dutch international to snub interest from other clubs.

According to a report in The Times (h/t Daily Mirror) the Italian champions are trying to use Suarez as the bait to lure Van Persie to the club over a move to Manchester City or Manchester United.

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According to the back page in Saturday's lead edition of The Times, Italian champions Juventus have told van Persie that they intend to sign him AND Uruguay international [Luis] Suarez.

The idea, the piece continues, is to appeal to van Persie on footballing rather than financial grounds.

The Gunners have rejected cut-price offers for Holland star van Persie from Juve and the Manchester clubs in the past few days, and are adamant that they will not sell for less than £20 million.

A move to Turin would give the Dutchman an escape from the flak he'd surely get from Arsenal fans if he lined up against the Gunners in the colors of either United or City.

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Whilst the move to lure van Persie by signing Suarez is no doubt invention and sensible on some level, there are some fundamental problems and issues with the move by the Italian club.

To put it simply, I think it's stupid.

Firstly, the entire situation with the Gunners captain is about money. Arsenal didn't offer enough to him financially and weren't willing to spend the big money to keep him at the club—so he decided to walk.

Bleacher Report's I.J. Yarison has written several brilliant columns on the reason why the saga is indeed "all about the money"—thus making Juve's intentions of appealing to the striker for reasons outside of that somewhat strange.

Secondly, a move to Juventus is going to help van Persie escape from the criticism he would receive should he stay in the English Premier League—I completely agree with that. However, Juventus have that selling point in their favor regardless of who else the acquire in the summer transfer window.

If the idea is to appeal to the Dutch international on the grounds that he would be making a move away from the Premier League and could "escape it all," then they don't need to offer Suarez for that selling point to remain.

In light of their previous financial problems and such, Juve simply cannot offer the wage salary to RVP that Manchester City can, so why do they think that they're going to be able to pick up the striker as well as Suarez in the same transfer window?

If they do indeed have the funds available to pick up the Dutch international and Suarez, why don't they just scrap the Suarez part and put together a bid for Van Persie that matches the likes of Manchester City and satisfies Arsenal's minimum sell of £20 million?

Thirdly, Luis Suarez?

Without meaning any disrespect to the Liverpool striker, he is not in the same class as several other strikers in world football—players that Van Persie could pair up with should he make a move to certain respective clubs.

Should he move to Manchester United, he'd be pairing up with Wayne Rooney and have the likes of Paul Scholes, Antonio Valencia, Shinji Kagawa and Nani behind him in midfield.

Should he move to Manchester City, he'd have the likes of Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and the enigmatic Mario Balotelli to partner him in attack—establishing arguably the most dominant strikers group in the English Premier League.

Heck, should he stay at Arsenal, he'd be paired with known performer Lukas Podolski and a raw, skilled, young talent in Olivier Giroud—not to mention the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and Alexandre Song.

Making a move to Juventus to join Luis Suarez then makes absolutely no sense what so ever. 

If Juve are truly trying to appeal to him on football grounds, then they would be better to find a more complete striker who is likely to attract the interest of the Dutch international. 

Picking up Rafael van der Vaart before he confirmed he would remain at Tottenham Hotspur could have had some merit to it, given that he and Van Persie played together for Holland at the recent European Championships.

Trying to sign Suarez is not one of the brightest moves.

Given the fact that Liverpool have recently added Fabio Borini to their squad and finally look like offering something in attack this season, they are seriously unlikely to let Suarez go. If they do, they're going to need some serious financial compensation, and given Juve's reluctancy to offer a substantial transfer fee to Van Persie in the first place, they're unlikely to offer it to Liverpool.

The whole move by Juventus simply doesn't make sense to me.

Sure, in its simplest form, it's a nice idea.

Try to appeal to Van Persie on something other than money, sign another proven striker who he might be interested in playing with and hope that the criticism he'll receive by staying in the Premier League is enough for him to snub Manchester City and Manchester City.

In theory, it's a cute idea. In reality, it sucks.

It's flawed from the outset and contradicts itself time and time again.

Appealing to van Persie on something other than a financial level simply isn't going to work—any potential suitor must offer the club a substantial transfer fee and the player a significant wage salary if they hope to land the wantaway striker.

Juventus or Manchester United or whoever is interested in RVP must understand that trying to win over the Dutch international with something other than money isn't going to work. For if it did, he wouldn't be leaving Arsenal in the first place.

Will Juventus end up landing Robin van Persie this summer?

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