Robin Van Persie on the way to United

All smiles as United agree deal for Van Persie

The RVP saga is finally drawing to a close after Manchester United and Arsenal agreed a fee for the Dutch striker.

United have beaten of competition from the current Premier League champions Manchester City and Serie A champions Juventus to sign last season's top scorer who fired an incredible 30 goals in the Premier League for Arsenal. RVP will travel to Manchester on Thursday to agree personal terms and undergo a medical.

The 29 year old Dutch striker, who will become the first player to leave Arsenal for Manchester United since Viv Anderson in the 1980's, has been the centre of the summer's most high profile transfer saga after the striker went public with his announcement that he would not sign a new deal at the Emirates.

The fee is rumored to be in the region of £22 million pounds after add-ons. Van Persie is likely to partner Wayne Rooney upfront in a formidable United attack. Rooney finished behind Van Persie with 27 goals last season.

Sir Alex Ferguson has finally got his marquee signing of the summer, which will leave United looking a lot stronger after the acquisitions of Crewe youngster Nick Powell, Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa and Chilean striker Angelo Henriquez.

No Man City switch for RVP!

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has come out and said that he does not expect Robin Van Persie to make the switch to Manchester City this summer.

Van Persie's current contract expires next summer and he has already stated that he will not be signing a new contract with Arsenal.

Manchester United, Manchester City as well as the Serie A champions Juventus have all made bids which have failed to meet Arsenal's asking price for the 29 year old Dutch striker. And in an interview Roberto Mancini said: "Van Persie? No, I don't think he will come here."

Van Persie has been included in the Arsenal squad which will travel for the club's preseason training camp this week in Germany. Though, it remains to be seen if he will be in the team to play Cologne on Sunday.

Even though City, United and Juventus have all made bids it is unlikely that Arsenal will let their captain leave for anything less than £25 million. City appear to have given up the chase for the Dutchman, though, United and Juventus are still on the pursuit for the striker but have not increased their opening bids.

Although the move to the Premier League champions would be tempting, it is understood that Van Persie has "expressed a preference for the prestige and tradition of United and Juventus."

Last season Van Persie won the Professional Footballers' Association and Football Writers' Association player of the year awards due to his 36 goals for the Gunners last season. Arsenal definitely look set to lose Van Persie, though, they are on the verge of sealing a permanent deal for Malaga's Santi Cazorla as well as a season long loan deal for Real Madrid's Nuri Sahin.

Arsenal look set to lose their captain as well as talisman and either United or Juventus look set to gain an exceptional striker who has the knack for scoring some truly spectacular and important goals. Though, whatever the outcome it would be great to finally put this RVP situation to bed.

Conte facing ban!

The Italian football authorities are seeking a 15 month ban for Juventus manager Antonio Conte after he failed to report match fixing that occurred during his time as manager of Siena.

In a plea bargain, Conte's lawyer agreed a three month ban with the prosecutor Stefano Palazzi, though it was deemed insufficient by an Italian football federation.

Talks have now broken down and Conte seems like he will be facing a full sporting trial, and Siena will have a points deduction of six points for the new Serie A campaign.

Some of the matches which are at the centre of the match fixing allegations are a 2-2 draw with Novara as well as a 1-0 defeat by Albinoleffe in May 2011. Both these games were Serie B games.

The Italian Football Federation have said that they are aiming to reach a verdict on Conte's case by the 10th of August.

Though in total there are 13 clubs and 45 players and training staff which face some form of disciplinary action as part of a larger investigation into the match fixing in Italian football.

Antonio Conte led Juventus to Serie A glory last season and at first denied allegations of match fixing before he decided to change tack and seek a plea bargain.

Hopefully Italian football authorities can get to the bottom of this match fixing scandal and finally rid Italian football of this match fixing which has plagued Serie A and Serie B over the past few years.