Robin Van Persie will not join Lazio this season, the Serie A outfit’s sporting director said on Wednesday, dismissing rumours that wanted the Dutchman close to a move to the Italian capital.
Earlier this month, Van Persie, who has struggled for form last season, claimed that he wanted to play regularly next season, hinting that his future might lie away from Old Trafford.
“It’s a strange, difficult situation. A new situation, that’s a better word. I have to think in a realistic way. It’s my ambition to play the next years,” Van Persie said, suggesting he wanted a prominent role next season.
The Dutchman, who scored just 10 Premier League goals last season, was spotted in Rome last week, leading to speculation that he was in the Eternal City to discuss a move to Lazio, who finished third in Serie A last season.
However, on Wednesday, the Italian’s sporting director, Igli Tare, said his club will not sign the former Arsenal captain.
“On Van Persie, all I can say is that I respect him as a striker but unfortunately, he is outside our parameters,” Tare told Lazio Style Radio.
“There has never been a meeting, this is gossip, not transfer news. We don’t want to create illusions, this is not true.”
Unplayable in his first season at the club as United clinched their 20th league title, the Dutchman has struggled over the last two campaigns and not even Louis Van Gaal’s arrival has halted what seems a steady but inexorable decline.
However, given he is on the wrong side of 30 and that United desperate to add pace up-front, Van Persie’s future remains all but certain.
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