Switching Rubles for Pound Sterling?
Andrei Arshavin who was born in what was Leningrad quietly worked his way through the farm system of hometown team Zenit St. Petersburg making his debut in year 2000 during a 3-0 win against English side Bradford City in the now defunct and historically ridiculed Intertoto Cup. That year he would go on to win the Russian Premier League Player of the Season Award mainly down to his versatility in being able to play as a winger, striker and attacking midfield architect.
Over the next 7 years Arshavin would maintain his status in Russia as one of their most exciting players but throughout the rest of Europe he was still an unknown. Arshavin’s Zenit would capture the Russian Premier League title in 2007 with Arshavin starting all 30 games whilst piling in 10 goals and creating another 11. This was the first time Zenit had claimed the top prize in Russian soccer since 1984. The domestic success ensured Zenit a place playing in the UEFA Cup in 2008. Although the UEFA Cup is known as the ugly sister of the UEFA Champions League, Zenit were still given little chance of making an impact. Arshavin and his team would prove the cynics wrong however and lift their first European cup after defeating Glasgow Rangers 2-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium in England.
His UEFA Cup performances guaranteed Arshavin a place in Gus Hiddink’s Russian national side who were one of the surprises in this year’s extremely entertaining European Championships. In the group stage Russia would claim victories over a favoured Swedish team and defending champions Greece with Arshavin netting a goal. Arshavin’s good form would carry into the knockout stages with one of the shocks of the tournament, Russia’s 3-1 drumming of The Netherlands who most spectators believed to be the best team there. Russia’s historic pursuit of the cup came to an end at the hands of eventual winners Spain in the semi-finals.
Since returning home from the Euros Arshavin’s agent’s phone has been ringing off the hook with offers from heavyweight teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona. Arshavin made it very clear to anyone that would listen that his dream was to play in Spain with the Catalonian giants Barca, but there were fears that Zenit’s inflated asking price would be too high to attract Europe’s elite teams. With all the flustering in St. Petersburg the big clubs decided to switch targets and perennial underachieving English side Tottenham Hotspur have emerged as the dead on favorites for the Russian’s signature.
London based Spurs are in need of another striker after shipping the popular Robbie Keane to what is now a very strong Liverpool side for around $40million. It is believed Spurs should be able to buy the right to discuss a contract with Arshavin for close to $50million. It’s a definite risk for Tottenham and the jury is out as to whether Arshavin will be able to adopt to the physical style of the English league. It will have to pay off if Spurs are to live up to their own hype of being able to break into the illustrious top four positions in the Premier League this season.
