Manchester City are convinced they can land Arsenal captain Robin van Persie. The Guardian says City are considering making him the club's highest-paid player. Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the chairman, may sanction offering the Dutchman more than the £250,000 weekly salary earned by Yaya Touré.

The potential deal is far enough along for the possible move to have been the talk of the dressing room for a few weeks.

City, who have been conducting homework on the striker for some time, are confident that Van Persie will leave Arsenal and that the lure of joining the title winners plus a salary that would take him beyond Touré and Carlos Tevez, the club's highest-paid players, will convince him to move on.