Zenit blame delay on Arshavin

In other words, 23 percent of us are fools?

I talked personally with Andrei Arshavin, and he assures me that it is in fact Arsenal FC's fault that the transfer has not gone through. It was difficult to get a hold of him, and my Russian is a bit rusty, but I am completely trustworthy. I promise.

I've got a rare Hulk comic which I could sell.

I'm not gay.

This is just Zenit's last pathetic attempt to save face. Blame Arshavin. And of course all the negative Arsenal blogs I won't dignify by naming will blame Wenger/the Board/crop circles/whatever if it falls through. I actually read one today that said it was all a conspiracy- we never had any intention of signing him, we just put up a charade (and somehow convinced Zenit, Arshavin, and his agent to be complicit) so fans would think we tried. Paranoid or what? I've had it with the blogs- I'll stick with the official site, the non-rumour-mongering Soccernet, and this site so I can enjoy the wisdom of LD and the one-line non sequiturs of Tom14.

Great word elb. I guess it sums up my purpose totally.

I dont care what anyone else says, but this has now become the most tedious, frustrating, boring, monotonous, mind numbing, deadly, tiresome, provoking, exasperating transfer deal ever. And i dont care if it happens or not as long as it is concluded one way or the other. I guess i will have to wait until feb 1st, go on the Arsenal website to see a story on Bendtner being the shooting master

I have Gus Ceaser locked in my basement if they want to take him in part-exchange!

I can understand Zenit protecting their interests and as he is their player, it is their prerogative to do so. But they really have turned this into a circus, are people actually stupid enough to believe this? This completely contradicts all of the statements they have put out about three times a day, every day for the last month. Every day they have told all and sundry that no fee has been agreed and that they have set this deadline and that deadline for an agreement, yet now they change tack and say this? Who works for their press department, Jeffrey Archer? Christ on a yamaha.

This has got to be the most boring subject of the year.......... lets look at it from a logical perspective....... Will Zenit sell a player they rate as being worth 15 to 20 million for the price of a second hand flip flop and a sherbet dab? No? Then he sure as hell aint coming to the Arsenal.

Yes Shewhore when we captured Alonso... wait a minute

Wenger - We have NOT agreed Arshavin fee. End of story really!

Possibly Tom. Or maybe Bolton are trying to make the fans think they have big ambitions when in fact they have no chance of capturing him

paul, this negotiation "process" is deliberately INTENDED to be "tedious, frustrating, boring, monotonous, mind numbing, deadly, tiresome, provoking, exasperating" on Zenit's part. I believe they intended to do this from the outset--toward ANY club that put in a bid for Arshavin, REGARDLESS of how much money was offered. Ever since Arshavin started to agitate for a move to a big European league early last year, the club has declared war on him. He’s never been an easy character to deal with anyway, so relations between player and club were never great (something to keep in mind for Arsene, who will have to use all his talents in creating team unity with such****ly players as Nasri, RVP, Arshavin, Bendtner, Gallas, etc.). But his public desire to play on the big stage in club football before he gets any older, and his agent’s public machinations to make that happen, made things even worse, and drove the club’s Board into a permanent vindictive mood. It’s also been made worse because he has one of Europe’s most obnoxious, difficult agents (who we’ll have to deal with if the transfer goes thru, btw). Their aim has always been to drag things out as long as possible, torment the player with endless negotiating games, and then finally make the bidding club cry “uncle” and just give up. They really do have it in for Arshavin. They do not need the money, they really don’t care a lot about the money. I am not convinved they genuinely went into this intending to sell even if Arsenal had put in a bid for 40m, let alone 20m. But even if they were open to selling him, they will do their level best to drag this out to the very last millisecond of February 2nd. By which time Arsenal may well have given up. This is why I don’t blame AW or Gazidis or the Board in this transfer. Barca and Spurs also tried to negotiate last summer for Arshavin and backed off in the end, Zenit’s games made it impossible for a deal to go thru. I wish AW hadn’t tried for Arshavin at all and had tried for another good creative player (if that was his priority, as it seems to be). I’m sick and tired of Arsenal dealing with clubs like Marseille and Zenit, instead of clubs that aren’t insane. As I said, I'm not convinced that Zenit ever went into this with a good faith effort to carry on genuine negotiations with Arsenal. shewore, it's true that Arshavin can just easily buy out his contract when he turns 28 in May but he'll have to spent about 8m of his own money to do that, which he would be reluctant to do. The Board knows that.

Re the buying out, would there be some sort of law against us 'loaning' him the dosh? Touchy subject i know all you GG fans out there !

Sorry jaelle. The swear filter can be a bit keen on the front page! Will look to see if I can remove the word pr-ic-kly from there without removing pr-ick although I suppose in the big scheme of things, the latter isn't that bad! Just being front page we like to control the language from the few who like to abuse, as opposed to the rest on the network who are just here for proper football talk and a laugh!

Who do we believe????????????????? LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Andrei Arshavin’s move to Arsenal is in danger of collapse because of the player’s refusal to reign in his financial demands, Zenit St Petersburg general director Maxim Mitrofanov told Reuters on Tuesday. Mitrofanov said the clubs had agreed a 15 million pounds ($21.17 million) transfer fee for the Russian playmaker but the deal now hinged on him making a financial compromise to settle an impasse over repayment of half his bonus from when he signed a four-year-contract in 2006. “I think that we are very close to a deal, we really want to sell him but I hope the player can forget about the huge sums of money he is asking for and I hope he can find a compromise,” Mitrofanov told Reuters in a telephone interview. “We are ready but it is his decision. “Is it his dream or is it just a question of money?” Earlier on Tuesday Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger denied that the clubs had agreed a deal and said that “several different voices seem to be coming out of the club (Zenit)”. (Editing by Justin Palmer)

What i find worrying is that we seem to have no plan B! We need to strengthen theres no doubt but Wenger said last week the AA was our only target. Or maybe a classic bit if AW kidology!!!

I thought we sorted out personal terms with him already, with the player himself saying he is willing to take a pay cuy to get his move!!!