Wenger: Hands off van Persie

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has warned Manchester City that Robin van Persie is not for sale.

The Arsenal captain has been in scintillating form since his return from injury last November, narrowly missing out on being last year’s top scorer with 18 Premier League strikes in just 25 games, and already notching three goals this campaign.

Wenger reluctantly saw France internationals Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri leave for the Etihad Stadium in the summer, and he appears determined not to see his captain follow them.

“Robin is under contract until 2013, this is a story created to create a story, there is no truth in it,” Wenger told reporters.

“Why should we sell players in January?”

Wenger hit out at free-spending Mancini by suggesting he already has enough strikers.

“Man City already have problems because they have too many strikers, they pay half of the league for them to play away somewhere,” he added.

“Why should they want to buy strikers? It’s very difficult to understand.”

Meanwhile, Wenger has revealed the club were interested in signing Luka Modric before he joined Tottenham in 2008.

The player was the subject of intense interest from Chelsea in the summer but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy took a hardline stance that no offers for the Croatian would be accepted, despite the 26-year-old’s pleas to leave.

The Gunners boss believes his club had the midfielder on their radar before their north London counterparts but ultimately decided they did not need another creative central player.

“We knew Modric before Tottenham knew him,” Wenger said.

“We played against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League (in August 2006) and he played in the same team as Eduardo against us.”

“At the time we had (Cesc) Fabregas, not a bad player. But we were interested in Modric.

“He is very mobile. I’m not surprised how well Modric has done, I knew he would do well.”

The Croatian international joined Tottenham for 16.5 million pounds under former boss Juande Ramos, and has made 122 appearances in over three years at White Hart Lane.