Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that the club were keen to avoid selling Robin van Persie to a rival Premier League club.
The Dutch striker will today completed his £24million move to Manchester United which was something Wenger hoped would not happen with the Frenchman keen for a club not in the UK, such as Paris Saint-Germain, to buy the former Gunners captain.
"We wanted to avoid that at all cost, but we weren't able to," he told TF1.
"Honestly, I'd have preferred to sell him abroad, to PSG, for example, over Manchester United.
"They have the advantage of having played against him and knowing his great class. He's truly an exceptional player in every sense of the word."
