The decks have been cleared; apparently, there is only one suitor remaining for last season's top scorer in the English Premier League.
Robin Van Persie and Arsenal are in a conundrum. Sell the player to their biggest rivals ever since the advent of the Premier League, or ask the player to stick to his contract - leading to potentially having to cope with a sulking player and/or letting him go for nothing at the end of next season.
Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson are two of the most successful and smart managers the game has ever seen. They have a huge amount of mutual respect, which has eventually turned into a much more cordial relationship off late.
The arrival of Chelsea and Manchester City, might have brought the two together almost in a sense of it's-us-against-them mentality that has prevailed. However, that was not the case a few years ago. Ferguson and Wenger were at each other's throats - not literally of course, although at some moments it did look like it might happen - all the time. Mind games and snide comments were the order of the day. Publicly, the two did not see eye-to-eye even remotely.
These were the two best clubs in England after all; a certain amount of animosity was needed, almost demanded by both sets of fans. So, while selling an Arsenal player to United or vice versa might have been unimaginable then, now, despite the mellowing down of the relationship, on that aspect at least, not much has changed.
Wenger cannot imagine even considering selling a player - that too his captain of the side -- to United and Ferguson, even though the Red Devils have left Arsenal in their wake and have been competing for the title with the likes of Chelsea and more recently Manchester City.
While Arsenal might not have been successful in garnering trophies off late, they are still the second most popular English club in the world. Selling Van Persie to United, would set an even worse precedent than selling to the cash-rich City.
While fans might understand and empathize with the club for selling the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure to the Premier League Champions - seeing as the amount of money that has earned the club, and looking at how most of their careers have nosedived since - selling to United will not be taken too kindly.
They have been and still are Arsenal's biggest rivals, in terms of the title, in the Premier League era. While Tottenham Hotspur are seen as the traditional rivals, like United have Liverpool, selling an Arsenal player to United would almost be as bad as selling one to Spurs.
It is understood, Van Persie prefers a move to United over City. While the Dutchman initially thought he would be moving to a whole new country altogether - match-fixing problems that have dogged Italy for so long have put to paid his potential switch to Juventus. Roberto Mancini and Manchester City cannot buy another striker unless they sell some of their grossly high-earning members; leaving disconcertingly for Arsenal, just United in the mix. However, Van Persie, who is a part of Arsenal's training camp ahead of the Gunners' final pre-season game against FC Cologne, is reportedly training well and not causing any problems whatsoever; the mood in the camp with Van Persie is alright.
The Frenchman knows, above all, another player joining their immediate rivals will send out the wrong message, in a summer where good vibes - apart from the Van Persie saga of course -- have largely hung around thanks to the signings of Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, and on top of that the promise of a few more to come.
If Van Persie is still not convinced of Arsenal's "ambition", Wenger will be left with two choices. Wait for United to match Arsenal's asking price which is £30 million ($47 million) or let Van Persie see out the last year of his contract and hope that the Dutchman and the Gunners find success in the coming season, with him signing a new contract, leading to that old saying that everybody likes - All's Well That Ends Well.