Arshavin Deal or No Deal?

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Im sure you have all missed your daily dosage of VTH, I have been busy for the past few days, so here’s an update on today’s news!

Apparently we have been in talks with Andrei Arshavin for the past two days and Wenger is trying to woo him by showing him the London Conley facilities. The issue the papers state however is that Zenit are determined to receive £20 Million for him whilst Arsenal are only prepared to spend £12 Million…Great!

The Independent states:

Zenit St Petersburg are determined to inflate the price tag Arsenal must meet for the midfielder Andrei Arshavin, according to his agent. The Russians have suggested a £20m deal for the 27-year-old playmaker, who shot to prominence during Euro 2008, with both the Gunners and Juventus understood to be leading the chase.

Arshavin, a long-time target for Arsène Wenger, is reported to have visited the Premier League club’s Hertfordshire training ground during a trip to England earlier this year, while it has also been claimed the player is in fact already in London.

“There are no negotiations yet,” Arshavin’s agent, Dennis Lachter, said. “It is the people of Zenit trying to initiate some kind of interest. They are trying to use the media to make the price of Arshavin £20m.”

The Russians, though, may well be forced to offload the unsettled player at a cut price, with Arshavin having threatened to invoke new Fifa regulations and buy out the remaining 18 months of his contract to become a free agent.

So it seems this could be a long drawn negotiation which could end in Arshavin magically being signed by Juvenus or someone else on the final day of the transfer market.
More importantly the Daily Mail states that

Andrei Arshavin last night partied with his Zenit St Petersburg team-mates for what he believes will be the last time before sealing a move to Arsenal.

The Gunners may be furious that their far-from-concluded negotiations have become public but the Russia forward hopes any problems can be overcome so that he can achieve his dream of playing for one of Europe’s elite clubs.

It would be the perfect Christmas present as the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the festival two weeks later than in England.

‘I want to play at a good European club and I want to prove how good I am,’ he said.

Interesting stuff, his desire to play for us is obvious, its just a matter of whether we can afford him. Then again the likes of Manchester City might just hop along and offer him £100,000,000 a week, who wouldnt sign for that?

I must just say, I would be delighted if we sign Arshavin, but he wouldn’t be the answer to all our problems. Yes he can play as a winger, an attacking midfielder and behind a striker, with a player like that  he is already at home with Arsenal. Wenger likes nothing better than a versatile player, and he would offer us more options. If we sign him we will have another winger along with the likes of Nasri and Walcott. You have to remember Man Utd have 5 wingers in their squad, we currently only have two, Rosicky is not a natural out and out winger! Arshavin however would not fill that void we are missing when Flamini left, that no nonsense, full of energy, charging midfielder. So I still feel we need one more midfielder and a new central defender, because if we just make one signing this window and its Arshavin, our defensive problems wont just vanish!

Some other news which im sure you are all aware of Jack Wilshere has signed professional terms with the Club.

Jack, who turned 17 on New Year’s Day and was therefore eligible to sign his first professional contract, has already started to make an impact with his performances for the first team as he continues his excellent development at the Club.
Arsène Wenger said: “We are delighted that Jack has signed a professional contract with us. Jack is a player with great potential, with an ability to find the final ball and also score goals.

“Jack is a passionate and committed young player, he is not afraid of tackles and I am convinced he will have tremendous penetrative power in a few years.

“We have already seen Jack’s qualities in both his first team performances and in training on a regular basis, and we look forward to Jack being an important part of our first team for years to come.”

Ok…good stuff. Thats all for now, thanks for reading.

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