Who’ll budge first on Arshavin: Arsenal or Zenit?

Observe these quotes from agent Dennis Lachter about Arsenal’s move for Andrei Arshavin:

“Unfortunately in this matter there is no movement. The sticking point is, of course, money and rather the totally unacceptable amount of Zenit’s demands for Andrei. The position of the club remains unchanged and that is the reality that we have faced for a long time.”

“If the situation remains unchanged we will use Article 17 of the Fifa rules and buy out the contract of Andrei at the club, which could happen as early as November this year. In that situation, Zenit would have to be satisfied with a much smaller amount than they are offered by representatives of Arsenal.

“If Andrei becomes a free agent, he will get many proposals, from England, Italy and Spain.”

And these quotes from Zenit St Petersburg general director Maxim Mitrofanov:

“The situation has not changed since Friday, which means Arsenal would like to pay only £12m, not one cent more. And we, at Zenit, are ready to discuss with them about maybe a better offer from our side. We are ready to make a step forward to them, but they should do the same.”

“However, I have told the people from Arsenal we are ready to discuss a lot of things to make the situation easier for them. They have a deadline, as I understand, until 26th January, because after that, they should have some time to get another player and I respect this position.”

A bit annoying, isn’t it?

In a different situation I would value Andrei Arshavin at around £15 million. However his desperate desire to leave means that this valuation should drop to something around the £12 million that Arsenal are offering. Much as it may frustrate Arsenal fans at this stage I don’t see any reason why our club should up their offer, especially considering the threats that Dennis Lachter has made about Arshavin buying his contract out.

So what happens next? Well, put simply, one of three things. Either Zenit budge and Arsenal get the player for £12 million, Arsenal budge and Zenit sell the player for more than £12 million, or no-one budges and Arshavin remains a Zenit player until the summer. Either way, it’s extremely frustrating.

Fingers crossed it all works out. But I won’t be holding my breath.

Have your say on Arsenal’s bid for Andrei Arshavin by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. I would think 14m should be good for all parties. Wonder what other posible targets we could have then?

  2. 14m would not be good – he’s only worth 10m and we should not up our offer. He’s 27 and only in Russia is he a proven player.

  3. I agree with Sue. Arshavin is a good player, but worth around £10-£12m. If Zenit won’t accept our offer, f*ck ’em. We all know that what we really need is a DM anyway.
    I was hoping AW would be getting one in anyway.

  4. This sagan is annoying, it sucks. Why cant we have a nice and happy transfer window for once? I hate it!

    Anyway, we know Arsenal give up easily and they dont like kissing peoples arses, we also know Zenit are greedy twats that are trying to rip off some dumb club. So if no other club aproaches, Zenit have to sell Arshavin to us or theyll lose him for nothing. My choice? Zenit will budge! 😉

  5. having him i think will make a big improvment in the final third. i would like to see sammy then move into midfield with fabby and then we can forget all this defensive midfielder talk, both of these guys can make a tackle, sammy i think has more abillity and fabby is a box to box player. Should we give into their demands ? No i dont believe so. I think he will sign by friday without us raising our price. If he doesnt then he doesnt. i cant help but fantasise at the prospect of cesc nasri walcott arshavin.

  6. SF; I am really pissed off with Arshavin transfer saga. I thought he was in our grabs but now it looks more unrealistic. Since I am too tired of those transfer gossips, I will get back in the blog only after Jan 31st. Then,that will be the time to judge Wenger, Gazidis and our sleeping Board. If we end up with ZERO signing, it might be the start of decline of this glorious club. We are seriously lacking ambition to be one of the best in Europe. Arsenal were one of the best few years before but now we are not. There are many teams way forward than us. We moved to the Emirates to dominate English football and challenge the likes of Barca and Milan. The fact remains that we haven’t won anything after the move. No matter what we talk about our club, we haven’t yet tasted how it feels to be European champion or World champion. Only dreams.

    I don’t feel like at home at Emirates. There were many unforgettable memories with Highbury and now I miss it. The last time I was in tears watching Arsenal at home was the farewell match for Bergkamp. Cesc Fabregas, yes Cesc, scored a goal at San Siro in last year’s champions league to bring tears in me. My girlfriend realized that time how much I love Arsenal and our ‘Spanish Prodigy’.

    Our current team doesn’t have enough quality and squad depth required to challenge for big glories. We were one or two quality players short to be a class team a year before. Now we are at least 3/4 players short to buid that successful team who can challenge for big things. With our penny-pinching transfer policy and negligible team management I am not hopeful at all. Let’s realize that we Arsenal fans pay the most expensive ticket price in Europe. Wenger makes 5 million a year(more than Ferguson). Where is the investment of our money? We have spent less than Sunderland in transfer in past 4 seasons. Unbelievable. We might have to wait many more years to win something big. Are we leaning towards being new Bin Dippers? OR Are we going to compete against ManUtd? Time will tell. Like I said, I am hopeless than ever. Lord!

    I will be back on February 01.

    Come on Gunners!

  7. They need to find a solution or we will bottle this deal like when AW held out on the Alonso deal. It would leave all us Gooners deflated if no one came in this transfer window.

    Im still confident of this deal going through though. Its insanity if it doesnt (they want to sell, he wants to leave, we want to buy???).

  8. Nice comment Ramugunner, I could feel the emotion eminating from my screen as you talked about being brought to tears by Arsenal. Enjoy your holiday – hopefully when you return on Feb 1st we will be making a last minute DM signing (the transfer window is open until Feb 2nd this year) and we will have won our games in the meantime – proving it is not a time to panic – we are still a top team.

    Arshavin? The guy would be a bonus and would calm the fans down. It would be nice to bring him in; definitely exciting. But if it doesn’t happen we will not go backwards.

    There is truth in the idea that our recouperating stars and the likes of Vela and Ramsey maturing are all like new signings; but they are all atacking players. I said before it is very possible that we will sign no-one in this window, so I am prepared for that. I am personally hoping for a defensive acquisition (DM/ CD/ KEEPER) but if I have to wait until the summer then c’est la vie, as Arsene might say.

    I for one owe Arsenal (despite spending forunes on the club every seaason) to remain loyal, hopeful and patient until that time. After all, the tears Ranugunner mentioned were tears of happiness that we have all shed thanks to this club, and not many things in life can be so great as to make grown men cry of joy.

  9. I have been apprehensive about this all week. I was last week, quite confident on landing Arshavin. Now i dont think it will happen, we wont budge and I can Zenit sticking to the guns (which is fair enough) I value the bloke at around £15m. Its the agents fees holding things up -(Zenit want Arsenal to pay around the £3m fee for this) We need the player, he wants to leave and still we cant do a deal without risking losing it.

    Its gonna go to the wire.

  10. Wise words Jay. I don’t quite agree with your valuation, but you’re dead right about Zenit holding out ’til the last minute. They’ll be hoping another club or 2 show a late interest and that the price can be hiked up. I guess you can’t blame them, they don’t owe us any favours at the end of the day. With our reluctance to pay big money, plus the laudible principle of not being ripped off, I guess we’re relying on the fact that no other clubs want the bloke. If no-one else shows intrest we’ll probably sign him for the £12m. If anyone else chips in with a bigger offer we’ll lose out. I don’t believe any of that bollocks the player has said about wanting to play for Arsenal- he’ll sign for anyone if it suits his pocket.

  11. It is a shame that Arsenal cannot afford to pay more than 12 million for a 27years old established player but we can sell a 29 years old thierry henry and viera for over 16millions.That makes Arsenal a taker and not a giver.Get rid of that inconsiderate, self centered and Mr know it all AW.The boards doesn’t care about the fans all they care about is their pocket.As for me, i will not renwe my ticket until i see quality signing and not some bunch of kids

  12. We were all happy jus thinking Arshavin would sign any minute, but a fee still hasnt been agreed!! Wenger you need to buy at least 3 1st team buys, even if they are not Arshavin even though I would like him.

  13. Its so fustrating n tears takn 2 here arsene wenger is playing around with this tranfer. Its is obvious though that mr. Wenger wil not be buying new face to this squad but let him tell us the fans whats going on. We love arsenal but this man makes it fustrating and heartbreaking every season. So my fello gunners, lets just wait 4 our own time. Arsenal 4 lyf.

  14. I feel lyk Wenger should just chuck all the money that Zenit want once and for all,it’s better to buy Arshavin and close the chapter of buying during this transfer window,then sit down and wait for trophies bcoz im sure a trophy or trophies will come 4 Arsenal this season,Even if we don’t get any,Arsenal still remains the best club in the world for me.Keep it Arsenal,Keep it Emirates 4lyf.

  15. how can u blame zenit?palacios 14m dafoe 15m and the last and not least kaka 108m,if my granpa wakes up from the beyond he will think that this is a football clubs we r pricing

  16. @midou
    You got it dead right . It’s lunacy of course – but it’s the football world we belong to as fans and if we don’t sign in to the asylum we’re going to get left behind and always be dreaming of what might have been.
    I think I’m a positive fan (this post leaves that open to question) but honestly the thought of fighting it out with Villa – Villa for christs sake – for 4th place, leaves me shaking my head.What’s going on at Arsenal ? Did they sell their ambition along with Thierry ?Looks like it from where I’m sat.Come on Arsenal – fingers out.

  17. can you ppl wake up… he’s 27 and only ever played in russia. He played a few good games at the euro’s ffs… does that make him a superstar??? Yes he was a great player at the euro’s and extremely important in Zenit’s UEFA Cup run. I think he will make a great addition to the squad but it is not make or break that we sign him! Good for morale and good for you retarded FM players who judge a player on their FM potential but not critical to our success! Critical to our success is to stop conceding so many goals and the team working more as a team

  18. We’ve already budged once…If asking to budge a second time. It should be Zenit. Don’t want to be too negative but why now is it Arsenal who are being berated? C’mon bloggers this is business let it work itself out before you start bashing this team again…

  19. Arsenal should walk away from the deal and tell Zenith that when they ready to sign the contract they should contact them. If Arshavin buys out his contract they will not get anything. Wenger should now try to look at other potential targets and forget Arshavin

  20. @ adam
    At €20m? Dream on fella.
    We shouldve signed him in the summer when he was still worth £8m, but as usual, we blew it.

  21. I never said we should pay 20m, it is another typical arsenal bs tranfer, another what if and maybe!

  22. Why all these comments? fans love there club.AW wakeup and tell the board what exactly u want otherwise fans will hate u coz ure the last man to penalise those pockets of big names on board.

  23. If Arshavin is such o good player how come no other club in the world has made an offer for him. Even Bellamy had two clubs chasing him.

    Usually when any class player makes it known that he wishes to leave his present club more than one offer is made but in this case only Arsenal have made what appears to be a rather half-hearted approach.

    Could it be that the club are using the “Arshavin deal” to deflect attention away from their real target.

    Arsenal rarely carry out their business in the full glare of the media.

    Wait and see!

  24. I don’t understand a lot of fans ambivalence towards Arshivin. Comments like “I rate him at 15 million, or he’s good but not worth 20 million” beg the question: “based on what?” What kind of information do you have that somebody who is on pretty much every top 10 list of top players in Europe is only worth 12 million? I won’t say that he is worth 20 million but i won’t say he isn’t. I simply don’t have the information to make that valuation. And neither do any of you!

    However, I will reiterate why he is an important signing and not simply a ‘take it or leave it one.”

    1. Our offense seriously lacks creativity right now and in some games even has problems holding the ball.
    2. The main reason: we never replaced Hleb (Nasri can be considered a replacement for Rosicky.)
    3. Arshivin has Hleb-like ball skills, passing and movement, but can also shoot!
    4. If we miss out on the Champions League, the money saved by playing hardball will pale in comparison to lost revenues. The saying is Pennywise and Pound poor, I believe.
    5. We need to surround Cesc with players who he enjoys playing with if we want to keep. Arshivin is that kind of player.

    In short, I hope the Arse do sign him and if they don’t, I hope they know what they’re doing!

  25. I like what johno says reference business in full glare of the media and I sure hope that’s the case.If it is they need to be getting on with it sharpish.I’m not a dyed in the wool Arshavin fan but would for sure take him , especially in light of nobody else being mentioned.That’s really what’s bugging me – are we going to make significant vital signings or are we going to come up empty handed again.Jonho says wait and see – he’s right – what else can we do ?

  26. Arshavin wants to leave! Arsenal want him and are prepared to pay 12 mil for him. Arshavin is happy to join Arsenal. What is the problem. They want more money! Fine let their greed go, and lose him for nothing even if its not to us.

  27. Looking forward to watch Eduardo in action tonight. I hope all of us have something to cheer about come May.

  28. @ Rob, “every one vote for spurs for the biggest comedy club in the premier league” I have voted and what I saw was a wonderful result, they are on top.

  29. I think that zenit has done a lot espectively in other to allow asharvin to be part of arsenal team. and I do not want to blame the board member for their concern ‘cos of the situation of highbury.
    truely arsharvin worth more than #12m but I would like to pleade to zenit fc board member to just help arsenal out with that ammount so that both club will never go empty at the end.

  30. we need somebody to replace fabrigas for 2 month like arshavin. and I think it might be a shame for big club like arsenal not to afford to buy such kind of player

  31. Spuds just lost to Burnley 3-0 in normal time! Extra time about to start- if they don’t score, they’ll be out, having played a full strength team!

  32. @ Fatboy
    Thats great, lets hope Burnley goes on to win the trophy, they deserve it.

    BTW i just read that Eduardo played the full 90 minutes for the reservs, and he scored a goal but was judged offside. He is slowly coming back, its just a matter of weeks.

  33. HAHAHAHAHA That has cheered me up no end! All Spuds had to do was to stop Burnley scoring 3 more than themselves and they couldnt it. Now all those Spuds fans who thought it was in the bag, will have to play ET HAHAHA. Fantastic. BURNLEY!

  34. I really cannot believe it, 2 goals in 2 minutes, 2 minutes from time, win the games for Spuds, I feel like crying. Battling Burnley!!!

  35. SF;
    Discouraged by the rage I read in regards to either Wenger or Arshavin. Read this…..“Unfortunately in this matter there is no movement. The sticking point is, of course, money and rather the totally unacceptable amount of Zenit’s demands for Andrei.” Where do you presume this came from? Yes your original post. How does blame then go unto Wenger or Blame go unto Arshavin? Does Zenit get blame?

  36. @California Gooner;

    agreed we have no super knowledge of Arshavin (maybe I do?) but Arsenal does: They seek his services for everything you cite otherwise they would not have bid for him. But, their valuation of him was 10, now 12 so that’s what we are going by….So?

  37. Ice,
    I read the same thing! Be careful because this is a positive connotation…not something that should be held over the board’s head. Teams don’t get there by blowing there wads. They get there by investing wisely…Apparently Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa, & Tottenham no nothing about. By the way we have no sugar daddy like MU.

  38. @ hartwick89,Our Russian & American Billionaires if put together are richer than Glaz.
    I borrow the word “YES WE CAN” bring in Arshavin without a blink. Even the dude is now begging to be in North London(Emirate)http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4829870,00.html

  39. Ice,

    It’s not on Arsenal or Arshavin anymore it’s on Zenit…Supposedly we’ll know more in the morning…1-26 is the absolute deadline. Zenit are trying to lure other teams to the table City & Inter. This is Arshavin ” Zenit have to think realistically. I believe that Arsenal’s offer is much closer to my real value in the transfer market at the moment.”

  40. hartwick89,
    My take on this whole Jan. stuff is for us to add some bite so that those smaller teams that we struggle with will be put to rest. When we spank them say 8-0 others will behave when they hear the A-word. We want to see how we can reestablish the FEAR FACTOR we were known 4. Thank God Dudu is just 2 mintes away from first team and with the new man hoping to join us, we will beat FIFA 11.

  41. Zenit is holding out for other offers… I think it will get done- they will accept by the 26th as long as no better offers come in from outside. Plus Arshavin wants to be a gunner. Im confident it will still happen. All part of the game of negotiations though

  42. Arsenal can still go for Gareth Barry from ASton Villa and stop wasting time over one player, yes Arshavin is a good payer but why time is runing out .we should start discussing other issues

  43. If it falls through I think Wenger’s replacement should be Afellay from PSV. Not same caliber but definitely a promising youngster. Either way I am still hoping for a DMF/CB… I think this could be why Wenger is so hesitant to pay more…

  44. 8.15 The on-off Andrei Arshavin move to Arsenal gathers pace with Gunners chairman Peter Hill-Wood’s exclamation that a bid has been lodged with Zenit and it’s a ‘take-it or leave-it’ offer

    That’s SkySports Transfer Clockwatch this a.m. Are we getting close to being put out of our misery – as in at least knowing if it’s Yea or Nay ? Let’s hope it’s put to bed soon one way or the other so we can move on.

  45. Redknapp is a cheque book manager. Sputing out he needs to spend to bring in better players. EXCUSE ME what, better players. Erm you have a squad of internationals out there of which most were over the 10mil mark you blind idiot of a muppett. But then again he is at spurs isn’t he. How much were Modric, Pavulychenko, Defoe, Bently, Placios (lol) oh and god knows how much more as you’ve bought god knows how many. And here he is, the man who apparantly can work miracles with bargains. Don’t make me laugh. Any of the above mentioned would show there class in any OTHER prem club. It’s not the players, it’s Spurs and Redknapp. No wonder Bellamy didn’t come. Told you, Redknapp just loves a cheque book, I’m being honest here Spurs fans, with that squad you should be higher up the table, you have got class players, you have got internationals, Harry doesn’t need to spend anymore money, he needs to work with the talent you got. Thats the mark of a good manager, not how much you spend, it’s how you work with what you’ve got. And as a prime example, watch City and all their spending, under Hughes they won’t go anywhere, no mater how much they spend as Hughes won’t be able to handle the high profile players. And unfortunaetly for you, Redknapp can not handle the talent you have for what ever reason. I’m not sayig this bitterly by the way. He was happy to take the job, he was happy to spend 15mil on Defoe, now 14 on Placios (who has only 1 season in the prem for a mid table club) and still he wants more. He is whinging cos he can’t handle it, you have injuries, so does every other club, your squad apparently is thread bare, well hello, take a look at most of the other clubs. Your situation is really no different to ours, but Redknapp believes his own hype and thinks money sorts everything. It doesn’t. Redknapp is not as good as the hype says

  46. come on this peoples better manage a mall rather than a football club, because they act like they are dealing with non human stuff….and for sure they are less qualified to manage a mall, but it’s better

  47. Anyone think its important we tie up Robin van Perise and Theo Walcott to long term contracts as well as signing Arshavin? Then we have a qulaity attacking force (along with febregas, Vela, Rosisky – is we ever see him again) I have heard that Eboue will be offered a new contract soon. I bet his will be done first, top of Wengers list I assume!!!

  48. Whilst I’m fairly certain that Spurs will escape relegation this season and I’m sure that Harry Redknapp is a good football manager in many ways, his man-management skills and ego-centric approach to dealing with defeat has caused him problems before.

    Back in 2005 as manager of Southampton he seemed more concerned with his own reputation than the Saints’ efforts to avoid relegation – constantly harping about the poor standard of the players he’d inherited (commenting after a 4-1 defeat to Pompey, “We’ve got a big squad, and quite a few of the players are not good enough in all honesty. The staff needs pruning and we need a bit more quality in.”) Back then it seemed as though Harry was keen to reinforce the idea that he’d inherited a terrible side and should they be relegated then it couldn’t possibly be his fault – in other words he was protecting his reputation at the expense of his side’s chances – how to motivate yourself as a player when your manager continues to question whether you’re good enough to stay up?

    Sound familiar? This season Harry must have thought he was onto a winner with a Spurs side packed with quality and in a false position at the bottom of the league. Since his relatively lucky start – the draw with Arsenal and the win against Liverpool – things have changed and again Harry’s taken to protecting his reputation at the expense of his players’ flagging confidence. I fail to see how complaining that your players lack character and aren’t good enough, that the transfer policy has left you with a poor ‘mish-mash’ squad of players, and that your keeper will have to play against Manchester United (despite not being good enough) is going to help Spurs improve results.

    In effect, Redknapp’s up to his old tricks – effectively saying “it’s not my fault, these players are hopeless”. That’s what I’d call a self-fulfilling prophecy and the man should rise above all that and concentrate on making his players feel like they can win games again – they’re certainly good enough to. In short, Redknapp should spend less time worrying about what his reputation will look like and more time concerning himself with his playing staff and Spurs’ fans.

    If Spurs do go down, and Southampton go bust a friend of mine reckons that on top of winning the FA Cup last year (he’s a Pompey man) he could effectively retire from being a football fan since every conceivable dream will have been achieved. An amusing idea indeed.

  49. Hartwick – Arsene would never work there – If yhou dont win everything and keep all the players happy you are out. The place is a playground. Remember a few years ago Capello was sacked when he won the league for not playing beckham enough?!?! What the fuck is all that about?!?

    Its a mad house and Wenger would no control over starting 11 and transfers.

  50. Real Madrid have been after Arsene for ever and he is still at Arsenal. I am sure he sees the arsenal youngsters as a project that he hasn’t finished yet and he wont leave an unfinished project. With regard Eboue shouldn’t he get RvP and wallcot under contract first? And finally please sign Arshavin, we do need a creative player out on the right.

  51. 12M is fair for Arshavin, If somebody else hasnt give any offer yet, that means that nobody is interested for now.The Zenit director’s comments really showed that they can make the deal at 15M, which means that deal will be done at 13M or 13.5M max.This is what Arsenal wants and Zenit would accept this.But again Iwould value him at 12M.
    Zenit’s director sounded like a desperate seller and i know that they will sell him,what happens now is that they are just trying to act like any sellers would normaly act.I am in the world of business myself, and what i know is that noone would accpet any first offer, some balance must be made depending on the level of offer and the demand.We got more weight here on our offer but Zenit just wants us to make it slighltly higher becoz of that rule.Even if we offered 20M, they would always ask a bit more.

  52. We are now 90% of signing Arsha, unless Arsenal really meant what they have said abt “NOT a CENT MORE”.To me this way of talking is just a normal way to intimidate your seller, but I know that if Zenith would say 13M or 13.5M Arsenal would take their step.

  53. it seems people fail to realize that this sport IS in fact a business, and that Wenger as well as the board is responsible in seeing it managed as such. While other clubs have wealthy owners who are willing to lose tens or hundreds of millions per year in order to make an attempt at championships, the point is that it does not make business sense. Arsenal has recently bought a new stadium (expensive) and would not risk the club’s long term stability (remaining a top team forever) for attempting to win a single season or two (esp. for 1 player). ALSO, for those who look down upon the youngsters…you fail to realize what WENGER has done! to have kids compete and beat the likes of chelsea and united who do not compare on a player by player basis is ASTONISHING. under Wenger, these kids can become great, and for those whose transfer offers we cannot resist, the club will grow wealthier for it. as teams go through up and down cycles, we can retain our time at the top continously.

  54. The guy is quality and we should sign him. To be honest..i hate to say it but my gut feeling is that we wont see a consistently fit Rosicky again and Arshavin is a similar type player. Don’t get me wrong..a couple of defensive minded players are our priority but since our famous back 4 days – we have never benn ‘solid’ defensively although we have had great individual defenders.
    The point is..we have been struggling to score lately and produce our trademark football..we got 3 against Hull, but 1-0’s at home to Portsmouth, Wigan and Bolton werent too convincing. Andrei will be the perfect link between the mids and attack and we;re crying for that with Cesc out.
    In a nutshell…SIGN ARSHAVIN…we wont get defensive players. We all know that Arsenal’s philosophy over the last 5 or 6 years is you score 3 and we’ll score 4.

  55. wenger should not estate to signing arshavin coz we need to strengthen mid for us to run for premier.

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