'Closed deal' - Roberto Mancini opens up on Manchester United signing which cost Man City dearly

Roberto Mancini has revealed how close Robin van Persie was to joining Manchester City, rather than Manchester United, in the summer of 2012.

After Mancini led City to their first ever Premier League title at the expense of United on a dramatic final day of the 2011/12 season, both Manchester sides were in the market for a new signing that would help them gain an edge over one another.

Despite the Manchester sides battling it out for the Premier League title it was Arsenal's Van Persie who ended the season as the top goalscorer with 30 goals to his name.

READ MORE: Manchester United insist they haven't broken FFP or PSR rules after posting £113m loss

READ MORE: Ake, Foden, Rodri - Man City injury news and return dates ahead of Brentford

As such, both sides made the former Dutch international their top target that summer but it was United who ultimately sealed a £24million move for the forward.

United would go on to regain the league title, finishing 11 points ahead of City in second place. Van Persie scored 26 league goals as he won the Premier League's Golden Boot for a second successive year.

His goals, including the dramatic winning goal in United's 3-2 win over City at the Etihad Stadium, proved to be the difference between the two sides that season but things could have turned out so differently had he made the move to the blue half of Manchester instead.

"When I asked for a couple of players to be competitive in the Champions League, one of these was Van Persie," Mancini said while appearing on Sky Sports' documentary series 'Gaffer'.

"And then Van Persie went to United that season and scored 32 goals. He changed the season for United. I don't know why it didn't go through. After speaking to him, we thought