Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey remains hopeful that skipper Robin van Persie will stay at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners have already rejected offers from Manchester City, Manchester United and Juventus for the Dutchman.

Van Persie, 28, has one year remaining on his existing deal but says he will not be signing a new contract.

“He had a brilliant season last year and is a big player for us, so we are just hopeful that he will stay,” said Ramsey, who is on Team GB Olympic duty.

“We don’t know anything that goes on. We hope that he stays at Arsenal.”
Van Persie scored 37 goals last season, 30 of them in the Premier League, and claimed both the PFA and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year awards, with his contribution key to them recovering from a sluggish start to the campaign to secure third place.

They still finished 19 points behind the two Manchester clubs, but Ramsey is convinced a better start this time around could help them to close that gap.

He said: “If we get off to a better start this season than we did last season, we know we are capable of finishing pretty strongly, like we did last year.

“We have brought in a couple of players [Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud] who are well-known and hopefully we can put ourselves in a position to compete early on.”