Arshavin storm is brewing: Arsenal rivals to ask questions
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Arshavin's a Gunner: Arsenal get their man on the cheap after day of tense negotiations
Deal or no deal: The Arshavin saga ran until the last moment
Arsenal have completed the signing of Russia forward Andrei Arshavin after a tortuous day of negotiations. Sources told Sportsmail that the transfer had been concluded, despite reports coming out of Russia that it was not finalised in time for Monday's 5pm deadline.
Arsenal prised the 27-year-old from Zenit St Petersburg after playing hard ball with the UEFA Cup holders. The Barclays Premier League side finally agreed a £10million fee for Arshavin, rising by a further £2m based on success-related clauses being met.
The fee marks a significant climb-down by Zenit, who were looking for a figure of £20m when the window opened on New Year's Day.
The deal was struck in the final hour of the transfer window with Arshavin already having passed a medical earlier in the day before agreeing a £70,000-a-week, three-and-a-half year contract at The Emirates.
Zenit head of press Alexey Petrov told news agencies that the deal was off. However, the club's general director Maxim Mitrofanov said: 'Both clubs are set up to finish transaction, therefore negotiations proceed.'
In any case, sources at Arsenal were confident everything was in place. Should Zenit still attempt to pull the plug, Arsenal are confident they will have recourse to take their case to FIFA.
The late stumbling block is believed to involve a £2.25m payment Zenit claim they are owed by Arshavin, that amount being the difference in his wages from his original deal with the Russian side and the £90,000-a-week contract he signed last spring.
However, that impasse is understood to have broken after Arshavin after to hand over a slice of his signing on fee to his former club.
Arshavin would have liked to have worn the No 10 jersey he wears for Russia and Zenit, but, with former skipper William Gallas already laying claim to that, the playmaker is set to take the No 13.
Events moved quickly and dramatically over the 24 hours running up to the deadline. Arshavin flew into London yesterday and spent the night in a Herfordshire hotel, but was said to be making his way to an airport for a flight back to St Petersburg after a frustrating morning of negotiations.
Arshavin was disappointed with the personal terms on the table this morning and the two sides were also unable to agree a fee. All three parties appeared no closer this afternoon but a breakthrough was achieved through high-level boardroom discussions between both clubs.
Mitrofanov had been conducting talks with Arsenal director Ken Fryar, but the Russians say that more senior members of the clubs' two boards were put in direct contact.
The forward had reportedly hoped to sign a four-and-half year deal on a reported £110,000 per week, but that would have smashed Arsenal's wages structure.
The north London club's initial offer this morning was described as being only half of Arshavin's current salary. However, sources in Russia told Sportsmail that Arshavin's reported currently salary of upwards of £100,000 per week were exaggerated.
He has reportedly demanded an after-tax salary of about £3.5million. However, sources at the Russian club say that his basic after-tax deal with Zenit is 2.2m euros (£1.97m).
Arshavin fearsed his chances of leaving Zenit were being scuppered for the second transfer window in succession. In September it was the dream of relocating to Tottenham that died.
The saga has been dubbed 'The Soap Opera' in his homeland and there has been threats that he would strike at Zenit if he did not secure an exit.
It was reported that he was ready to walk away from football all together after being branded greedy last week.
His involvement in Zenit's Dubai training camp in the last fortnight was on the basis that he would just train to stay fit and he played no part in the club's three friendly matches.
His coach Dick Advocaat has certainly planned for a future without him and said last night that he wanted the deal done 'as soon as practicable'. He added: 'The uncertainty is harmful, to he and the club.'
The tedious twists and turns were mocked this morning by a columnist in Russia's Fvremya newspaper, who wrote: 'It seems that for Gazprom (Zenit's owners), it has been easier to negotiate the reopening of gas pipes to Ukraine than it has been for them to sell Arshavin.'
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Good news for arsenal. I hope he can be impact player to provide the creativeness and penetration that arsenal clearly lack.
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Originally posted by reyes:
Good news for arsenal. I hope he can be impact player to provide the creativeness and penetration that arsenal clearly lack.
ya. e replacement of cesc -
confirmed liao??
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Congrats
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Apparently its put on hold again.
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he kinda different player compare to cesc. he has more penetration power.
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Ok hope he play in Arsenal Team hor, ltr dun tell mi like Thomas Rosicky like that, coma for 1 yrs.....
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YES!!!!!!finally,Arsenal have signed Arshavin.after such a long wait,finally Arsenal fans can feel happy and relieved.
hope he plays well for Arsenal. -
Originally posted by omgukilledkenny:
Apparently its put on hold again.
What do u mean?the deal is sealed isn't it? -
Come on la i think Arsenal tio FAS le , they must pay for installments
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Arshavin's deal a transfer record for the Gunners.
Zenit have chosen to publicly reveal details of the negotiations. An article on the club's official website now maintains the deal has been completed, although they have credited a Russian news agency for the story.
"Zenit, Arsenal and Andrei Arshavin have concluded talks in London," the report on www.fc-zenit.ru reads. "An FC Zenit source has informed Fontanka that the talks were successful, and Andrei Arshavin is moving to Arsenal. The signed documents have already been sent to the English Football Association [Premier League].
"A source close to the discussions has told Fontanka that the terms of the deal are financially suitable to Zenit. "The St Petersburg club will receive £16.5million - £15m for the transfer of the player and £1.5m compensation for breaking a long-term contract.
"In addition there is a further 500,000 Euros [£450,000] in bonuses which Arshavin has not yet received which will not be paid and instead make up part of the transfer sum.
"The overall sum of the transfer is around US Dollars 24m [£16.9m]."
Should those figures prove correct and the deal is ratified, then it would make the deal a transfer record for the Gunners.
Arshavin, who is reported to have been prepared to take a pay cut to join Arsenal, jetted into London yesterday for a medical to complete the deal, and is understood to have now returned to Russia to complete some personal arrangements before starting work at his new club.
Wenger has long been an admirer of the 27-year-old Russia international, who shot to prominence at Euro 2008.
While Arshavin could make his debut in Sunday's north London derby at Tottenham, given the Russian domestic season finished in November, the player is more likely to be allowed some time to build-up full match fitness.
Andrei Arshavin will wear Beckham's number 23...
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Ok the deal is ON gratz
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Nope the deal is still hanging in balance even though many sources says that the deal is completed and that arshavin would be a gunner officially after the announcement from the FA on Tuesday.
However, the FA chief says that the deal is only rated '50-50' because there is a possiblilty that the paperworks would be invalid. He also mentioned that another 2-3 days may be needed to work things out.
Hai, damn sad to be a gunner fan these days...
http://goonertalk.com/2009/02/03/arshavin-move-50-50-says-fa-chief/
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It's OFFICIAL!
we have him! check www.arsenal.com
game on!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/russian-international-arshavin-joins-arsenal
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YEAH!!!!!.... finally finally finally.... i have been waiting for this day.. hopefully he plays this weekend against tottenham... no more eboue please... no more!!!!
How i wish it would be arshavin on the left, nasri on the right, denilson in the fabregas position and song as the holding mid... please wenger, make my dream come true.
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wonder what position we would play in Arsenal line up =/
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sure hope he can live up to all these hype...
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Arshavin: Becomes Arsenal's most expensive player.
ANDREY ARSHAVIN finally sealed his Arsenal move yesterday — amid concerns over why it happened 24 hours after the transfer window closed.
The £16.9million deal was confirmed at 4.50pm following a day of arguments over the paperwork. But SunSport has learned that Arshavin’s club Zenit St Petersburg did not have the relevant documents lodged with the FA in time for Monday’s 5pm deadline.
And there were even questions about some of the paperwork submitted by Arsenal. FA and Premier League officials were not convinced the deal was in order and lawyers had to be called in to resolve the dispute.
It was argued by some officials that, as Arsenal had been tracking Arshavin for 228 days, there was no excuse for any deadlines being missed.
The transfer deadline had been extended because of the bad weather but Arsenal were unable to use that as an excuse because Arshavin had already arrived in London on Sunday night.
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Arsenal bend the rules to land Andrei Arshavin
Arsenal finally ended their 228-day quest to land Andrei Arshavin for £15 million on Tuesday, but the Russian’s registration 23 hours after the transfer deadline will anger some of the club’s Premier League rivals, notably Aston Villa, who are duelling with Arsenal for the fourth Champions League place.
The Arshavin deal: Arsenal's rivals will want to know the special dispensation to the Gunners as deal was only completed almost 24 hours after the deadline...
Arsenal were heading into a major transfer storm last night after Andrei Arshavin completed his £12million move almost 24 hours after the January deadline.
The Premier League and Football Association finally gave the green light to the deal at 4.52pm yesterday, insisting that 'everything was in order'. But Sportsmail understands the hold-up was caused by two key problems with the deal - Zenit St Petersburg's failure to submit their paperwork to the FA before Monday's 5pm deadline and what was described by one official as a 'slight issue' with the paperwork submitted by Arsenal to the FA.
Ivan Gazidis, the new Arsenal chief executive, insisted that they did at least submit their documents on time. But he did admit that, when it comes to the more complicated transfer negotiations, 'sometimes you just have to let the clock run down'.
Yesterday both the FA and Premier League were reluctant to take responsibility for the mess, with another official expressing his frustration with Arsenal. 'It's not as if this was a last-minute transfer,' he said.
The Premier League said they would be happy if the FA were and last night an FA spokesman said: 'We have been liaising with the Premier League and are satisfied that everything is in order.'
But there was a suggestion last night that lawyers had to be brought in to resolve the situation, with some of Arsenal's main rivals - Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill among them - sure to demand a more detailed explanation.