Robin Van Persie had last summer lots at heart when he got from Arsenal to Manchester United. And it wasn't the $70 million his new four-year contract was worth. After wearing standard No. 9 with the Dutch national team and 11 and 10 during his eight years with Arsenal, Van Persie put some thought into his uniform decision before deciding to just take his skills to Old Trafford, home of the 19-time English Premier League champions. "I took the No. 20 shirt," he said at his preliminary news conference in August, "because I am here to win a 20th name with United." When his first-half hat trick put Man U to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa, acquiring the EPL title with four matches left to play he made good on that forecast Monday. The past team to clinch a title that early was Man U in 2001. And that leaves Van Persie and his teammates concentrating on another number: 95. If Man U wins its remaining four games, starting Sunday when Van Persie makes his first trip back again to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium since leaving the group, Man U would end the season with 96 points, one better than the EPL record collection eight months ago by Chelsea. That success couldn't have come at a much better time for Manchester United and Malcolm Glazer, the team's Florida-based operator, who now seem poised to dominate English baseball for years into the future. Just ten weeks ago Man U was weighed down by significantly more than $660 million indebted. So even before its record-setting work to the tournament, the team was rushing to money in on hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising possibilities a' all at any given time when the group was rethinking the way its groups did business. In July the General Motors and group approved the most lucrative support offer in basketball history, a seven-year, $559-million agreement which will see Man U market the Chevrolet company on its outfits from the 2014-15 time. Five trading that was begun by days after shares of Manchester United on the Newest York Stock Market, raising another $233 million. But the team's most ambitious a' and productive a' attempts could be yet to come, thanks in part to NBC's determination to invest a dollars to outbid wire stations Fox and ESPN for the tv rights to Premier League games over the next three periods. As the defending champion, Manchester United results to get a lot of NBC's attention when the network's coverage begins in August, attention that may open the door to a lot more advertising possibilities in the U.S. a' and might already be providing the group influence in continuing discussions with Nike, which provides its uniforms. Given that changing landscape, David Gill, the franchise's outgoing CEO, told Reuters a week ago that Man U plans to start a sales office in the U.S., complementing ones in Hong Kong and London. And that eventually could make United even more dominant by financing the acquisition of more people like Van Persie. Although Forbes estimates Manchester United's worth at $3.17 million, rendering it the world's second-most valuable activities franchise behind Real Madrid, its debt load left the team thorough during the exchange period in recent years. Between 2001 and 2008 Man U used more than $29 million on transfer fees for a single player six times. In the last five years it did that just once a for Van Persie, a deal that went forward just after Glazer gave his acceptance a' while allowing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo to leave for better-paying offers elsewhere. "We have always run like this," Gill said. "The essential price at any football club may be the players, and we have had a goal of spending a maximum of 50% of profits on wages." That philosophy has been the exception around the Premier League in recent years, but it will soon become the rule after the long-debated Financial Fair Play guidelines were ratified by clubs earlier this month. The program, which goes into effect come july 1st, may control simply how much debt teams will take on over a interval while instituting what amounts to a soft cap on wage increases. The cap could be breached if a team may include the extra costs through added professional income a' a clause that gains sponsorship-rich clubs such as United while damaging rivals like Chelsea and Manchester City, which have been funding their payrolls primarily out of the owners' deep pockets. For United and Manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who has led the team to 13 Premier League titles in 19 seasons, all of it adds up to a perfect storm of great fortune: a record-setting period leading to lucrative marketing deals at the same time when new financial tips are tying paycheck increases to support profits. It's not surprising, then, that Manchester United helped produce the FFP rules. And it's why United has become well-positioned to pursue Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski, Atletico Madrid ahead Radamel Falcao and midfielders Victor Wanyama (Celtic) and Sven Bender (Dortmund). It is also why Van Persie may have to require a fresh standard amount next period. No. 21 continues to be available. kevin.baxter@latimes.com twitter.com/kbaxter11
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