Ferguson told MUTV: "Obviously Arsenal have given out the fact that we've made a bid for him.

"We try to keep business as close as possible to us until the moment we conclude a deal. There's no point talking about something that might not happen.

"There are other clubs interested in the player. We've shown an interest and that's where we're at at the moment."

United, City and Juve are said to be happy to pay somewhere in the region of £15m but Arsenal are thought to be demanding in excess of £20m for their star player.

The Gunners are said to be prepared to hold out for more than £25m for the 28-year-old, who they appear to have all but given up trying to convince to sign a new deal at the Emirates Stadium to replace the one that expires next summer.

Arsenal were expected to announce this afternoon whether last season's Barclays Premier League top scorer would join them on their pre-season Asia tour, but later delayed that decision until tomorrow, when they are due to leave the country.

According to widespread reports, manager Arsene Wenger will opt against including Van Persie, who this month went public with his desire to quit the club.

The Van Persie saga is shaping up to be a carbon copy of those that saw Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri both sold last summer, something which dragged on towards the tail end of the transfer window.

City and Juve have long been linked with Van Persie but concrete interest from United is something more recent and could spark a bidding war for his services.

Arsenal have already signed two new strikers in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud but are also said to be lining up Spain star Fernando Llorente were Van Persie to leave.