Many have said that they do not like the fact that Arshavin is kicking and screaming (sorry Andrei, don’t mean to paint the picture that you are an aggressive so and so) his way out of the club but what you have to remember is the club promised him a move

Well you just knew it didn’t you? You cling onto hope but at the back of your mind your brain tells you to watch out because it will go all wrong. We have had players holding up the shirt and the deal has still fallen through so this always had the potential to go tits up.

It appears that both clubs are not moving on their valuations of the player who is probably a little but ticked off right about now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some fist marks in his bedroom door, or any door for that mater.

His agent has no doubt flung an arm around his client and raised his hopes by telling him that they will buy out his contract if he is still being priced out. But that would have to be in November and that is little use to us in January. There would be a massive queue of clubs willing to pay wages beyond our wage structure.

Dennis Lachter said:

“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.”

Many have said that they do not like the fact that Arshavin is kicking and screaming (sorry Andrei, don’t mean to paint the picture that you are an aggressive so and so) his way out of the club but what you have to remember is the club promised him a move in the summer after all the hard work and years service he has put in and they put his valuation beyond the reach of Barcelona, Arsenal, Tottenham and others who enquired after the Euro’s, and now the same is happening again. Even in the current financial climate.

Zenit certainly are playing a dangerous game right now and they could well lose out but I expect they assume that other clubs will show their hands and whisk him away for a larger price than Arsene and the board are willing to pay.

Zenit St Petersburg officials also spoke about the situation from their position.

“The situation has not changed since Friday, which means Arsenal would like to pay only £12m, not one cent more,” said Zenit’s general director Maxim Mitrofanov.

“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.”

It reminds me a little of Dragons Den, Arsene and Ivan being the Dragons with Zenit begging for them to take a smaller share in the business and Arsene just shaking his head and saying ‘Non’

You get the feeling that an increased bid of £13.75 would seal the deal.

Should we stretch our valuation a little to get our target? I suppose that depends on how much the manager rates the player. For example if Arsene was only willing to spend £12 million on a player and Messi declared his love for Arsenal (how I wish) and Barcelona put him on the market for £17 million (shhh, just go along with it) then you can safely assume that the valuation would be met. As much as I am frustrated with this I understand that Arshavin is 27 years old and doesn’t have much scope for improvement, well I mean more development.

What is key, is if Arsenal will cross off Arshavin from his list and look down at a list of players. If it is a case of scrunching up the paper and throwing in the bin and sticking with the squad including injuries then I would think there is a justified argument in paying a bit more in getting the player you want, especially when the club have made money on players who are not even associated anymore to our club (Bentley, Diarra etc)

I have the feeling that this isn’t the last time I mention Arshavin and Arsenal but lets just assume its dead, anything else would be a bonus.

The reserve team are playing tonight which could well mean another start for Eduardo. They were due to play a couple of weeks ago but the game was cancelled due to the weather. A good showing from him and we could well see Eduardo on the bench for the FA Cup clash with Cardiff.

Our opposition will be Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, at least the kids will not have to deal with throw in’s that look like bloody missiles.

Arsene Wenger has been speaking very highly of young Aaron Ramsey.

“I believe that it’s better to make the step at that age than five or six years later, He has not only made the step up from the Championship to the Premier League, but also to a Premier League team that wants to be at the top and who fights in the Champions League, and that means it’s a massive difference at such a young age.

“I believe he did extremely well because he has drive and he can push the team forward. He is always available, he wants the ball and he is very dynamic in his play.

“Overall I’m very pleased with his progress because I must say that he is ahead of where I planned for him to be in January. You have to remember though that he is still only just 18 years of age and you need to be a little bit patient with him.

“He has shown that every time we’ve picked him, he has responded in a very positive way.”

I like the wee lad, but you can see that he is not quite ready yet. Great attitude, fantastic engine but he tends to give the ball away a little too much, that will correct itself in time but as Arsene says, he has great drive, a little like how Steven Gerrard has. When he bulks up and gains some much needed experience then he will a very difficult midfielder to stop. He is actually more skilful than I first thought he was.

Ramsey, Wilshere, Nasri and Cesc in their twenties is quite an exciting thought. I just hope that we can hold onto these players without much problem over the years to come.

Well it is that time again, if anyone has any more ‘news’ then throw it in the comments.

Back Tomorrow.

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