Arshavin to Arsenal ?

Andrei Arshavin - Stop Press Arshavin Talking to Arsenal

STOP PRESS : After writing the post below I just read the following on the Daily Mirror site :-

"Andrei Arshavin was last night on the verge of signing for Arsenal in a cut-price £10million deal. [He] arrived for talks with Gunners chiefs at London’s Landmark hotel with his wife Yulia at lunchtime yesterday."

(............... Picture of Andrei Arshavin by Nikola)

I have been following the Andrei Arshavin saga since he first started looking for a move from Zenit St Petersburg during Euro 2008. His name has been linked with about 20 different European teams, including Spurs, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Man City, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Marseille, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Roma, Juventus and now most recently and most persistently Arsenal.

A couple of weeks ago Arshavin was in London 'on business'. He is said to have visited both Arsenal and Spurs, but at the same time it is claimed that he didn't visit either and that he was in London for an advertising campaign.

His agent Dennis Lachter, however, has claimed that negotiations are underway but there is still a long way to go. It is also claimed that Spurs were no longer interested in taking the negotiations further - Juande Ramos it appears was interested but Harry Redknapp is not so keen.

According to the Independent, Arshavin's wages are already around £70,000 (a week not a year, in case you have been asleep for the last 20 years), and this is at the high-end of Premier League wages.

There are also rumours that Arshavin has been asking Arsenal to break its wage structure - which I would guess Arsenal will not do. The transfer fee is also a sticking point, this summer Zenit wanted £24 million (at least) which no-one was willing to pay, now it appears they want £20 million but Arsenal are offering £12 million. This is further complicated by the fact that Arshavin can buy out his contract at the end of this season for £5 million, which clearly Zenit do not want him to do.

There is also the problem of the Champions League, Arshavin will not be eligible to play in it. Interestingly Arsene Wenger this week said he was looking for a player for the long-term not for this year's Champions League.

Zenit are getting desperate to sell him, but they would probably have been better off accepting a reasonable offer this summer.

Zenit's manager, Dick Advocaat, has already said that Arshavin would leave in January. "I am aware that Arsenal are interested but I don't know any more than that. However, I am expecting Arshavin to leave Zenit for another club. He is a top player and he could play for any team and any of the top teams in England, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool. "

"He was voted player of the year by the sportswriters last season – and we know they know everything! Arshavin played well for us last season but he didn't play as well as he can. There is still more to come from him."

Arshavin is a highly talented player but just where he will end up is anybody's guess. At the moment Arsenal are being touted as the favourites, but quite frankly we've heard it all before and Arsene Wenger is a shrewd operator who is not known for signing 28 year olds. But he is known for getting good players at good prices and he certainly hasn't ruled out the possibility of signing Arshavin.

I wrote all this before seeing the Daily Mirror article. It would appear that Arsenal might sign Arshavin for £10 million, which would be a great deal - we shall see.