Joe Doyle/Goal.com
Manchester: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has admitted that the club could miss out on signing Robin van Persie, with Juventus and Manchester United also interested in the Dutchman.
Despite the club`s obvious advantage in terms of available funds, Mancini says that Van Persie will face a difficult choice over where to go should he leave the Gunners, and he is in the dark as to what will happen.
"I don`t know what will happen with Van Persie," Mancini said.
"Now he`s an Arsenal player."
"They are a top team, even though they`ve lost some good players in the last year. For me they are one of the best teams in the world, so it`s not easy for Van Persie to leave a club like this.
"When you are talking about Manchester City, United and Juventus it`s difficult for any player to choose between these three teams."
"But if we have a chance to take him, we will try. He is a top striker like the other strikers we have."
The Italian manager also claimed that his current squad is not good enough to win the Champions League, and that their main priority will be to try and retain their Premier League title, this season.
"Defending the title should be our target this year," Mancini added.
"If we also go well in the Champions League, there could also be a chance that we can arrive in the quarter, semi-final or final."
"We will try to win it but it`s important, for this, that we have a good squad."
"But I don`t think we can play for the Champions League with this squad. That is my opinion, so for this reason we have to buy."
"But the Champions League is a strange competition sometimes. I don`t say Chelsea didn`t deserve to win it, but there were better teams than them last year."
"Chelsea probably deserved to win a Champions League three or four years ago, but there are some years when you can [win] a Champions League and not know why."
"Our target for the Champions League should be to go for the second stage after the group."
First Published: Monday, July 30, 2012, 13:27