• Roberto Mancini: 'If Arsenal lose him they will have a problem'
• 'Van Persie will stay at Arsenal,' says City manager
Roberto Mancini has admitted Manchester City would be interested in signing Robin van Persie in the summer but believes Arsenal will convince him to sign a new contract or the London club will have a "big problem".
The Dutch forward will have only a year remaining on his present deal at the Emirates at the close of the season and, asked if he thought the 28-year-old will stay at the club, Mancini said: "I think Robin van Persie will sign a new contract at Arsenal. Because if Arsenal also lose Van Persie, they will have a big problem. We are interested in all good players. This is normal, but not only us. All the good teams are interested in Van Persie."
Mancini was clear about his qualities. "I think Van Persie at this moment is one of the best strikers in Europe with [Lionel] Messi, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and with Sergio [Agüero] and Mario [Balotelli]. He is a fantastic striker, but I think he will remain with Arsenal."
Mancini was asked why, given Arsenal's struggles this season and City's status as league leaders, Van Persie would choose to remain at the north London club. "Because Arsenal in the summer, I think they will buy good players," the manager said. "Because Arsenal is a top team. They want to win the next Premier League."
Due to his contract status Van Persie is a rare example of a top line striker who is available relatively cheaply this close season. "But I don't think he will be cheap because he has one year left on his contract," Mancini said.
Pressed that rather, say, costing £60m he might be prised away for around £30m the manager added: "This is normal because if, for example, you wanted to buy [Edinson] Cavani [of Napoli], he would [cost] maybe £30m. He [Van Persie] is Arsenal's best player at the moment and it is difficult for them to give him to another club."
Mancini did state that City's previously difficult relations with Arsenal, caused by the deals that have taken Gaël Clichy, Samir Nasri, Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor to the club, would not stop them trying to sign Van Persie if there were a possibility to do so. "If there is a good player who wants to leave a club, then we are interested. But if this player wants to stay, we don't have any problem. But in my opinion Van Persie will stay at Arsenal," Mancini said.
The manager confirmed that Balotelli has been fined one week's salary for breaking a curfew at a strip club the day before Saturday's 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers and has accepted this. He added that Carlos Tevez still "needs another maybe two games in the next two weeks" before he may be available.
City lead United by two points and Mancini believes this margin gives his team some breathing space in the race against Sir Alex Ferguson's side. "We have two points more, for us it is different. I think we have 11 games and we need to win eight," he said. "Now we have one month where we will play every three days and we need to be very, very strong."
The Italian's team take on Sporting Lisbon in the last-16 first leg of the Europa League at the Estádio José Alvalade and he said: "It will be a very difficult game. We are playing a very good team. We will need to play some players because afterwards we play in three days. For this reason, because we play a lot of games, we need to change some players."
Pablo Zabaleta has travelled but is a doubt with a hamstring injury while Yaya Touré is suspended. Mancini confirmed that Sergio Agüero will start and the Argentinian, who has made an excellent start to his career City scoring 21 times since joining in the summer, said: "I think this is only the beginning for me at Manchester City."