Manchester United Transfer Report: Van Persie Demands to Be Man Utd's Top Earner

With Manchester United currently embroiled in the race to sign Arsenal's wantaway striker Robin van Persie, a report by John Richardson in the British newspaper The Express on Sunday revealed that, were a move to take place, the Dutchman would demand a wage packet similar in size to United's current top earner, Wayne Rooney.

Rooney is currently on a salary believed to be close to £220,000 a week and is one of the Premier League's best paid players as a consequence.

In a bid to have Van Persie stay at the club, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger had earlier this year offered the striker a three-year, £130,000 a week contract, with a £5 million signing bonus attached to sweeten the deal.

But the offer was rejected, the player believing he could earn almost £100,000 a week more at another club.

Greed is believed by many to be the primary motivation for van Persie wanting to leave North London this summer.

Nevertheless, If this transfer window has taught United fans anything, it's not to trust the tabloids—a lesson many have to re-learn every year.

However, despite the fact that personally, I wouldn't trust The Express as far as I could throw the Daily Mail, this story seems legitimate enough.

Whether or not United manager Sir Alex Ferguson would be willing to sanction such an expensive move, though, is another question.

After all, having to pay Van Persie such a high salary would increase the net cost of the transfer by quite a significant amount, also taking into account the lack of sell-on worth in a potential deal considering the player's age.

It must also be worth acknowledging that, despite the fact that the trail linking United with Brazilian starlet Lucas Moura has seemingly gone cold (per Metro), Moura's weekly wage demand would scarcely top £100,000. Additionally, due to Moura's age, his worth would be unlikely to diminish by much in the next few years, were the transfer not to work out.

Therefore, financially speaking, as well as for footballing reasons, a move for Lucas would make the most sense.

But with only a few weeks left until the start of the league season, it would appear that United are no closer to making any new signings than they were a month ago.

Fans will therefore hope that the coming week brings them fresh news linking the club with some of Europe's finest.