Robin van Persie is seriously thinking of staying at Arsenal.

The Sunday Mirror says the ­Dutchman, who is 29 on Monday, will be part of the Arsenal party that heads to Germany on his birthday.

Club insiders believe van ­Persie, who has a year remaining on his contract, now wants to stay.

The next challenge will be for the club to table a contract that gets him to commit to the club for the long term.

The summer ­signings of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, as well as the ­imminent arrival of Spain ­international Santiago Cazorla, in a £9million deal from Malaga, have impressed the captain.