Thursday, March 28, 2024

When did Andrei Arshavin become worth £20million?

When did Russia forward Andrei Arshavin become worth £20million? That is the amount Zenit St Petersburg are allegedly expecting to receive for his sale.

Arshavin has dealt a blow to any Premier League clubs who may be after him, rumoured to be Arsenal and Chelsea, after a spokesman from his current club announced that he only wants to play for Barcelona.

The Zenit spokesman told the BBC, “Arshavin wants to move to Barcelona. He doesn’t want to play anywhere else. Barcelona have made an offer but we are still negotiating with them. I don’t know when a decision will be made but I think Arshavin will leave the club.”

It could be that Barca would like to take Arshavin but are not interested at the silly money that Zenit manager Dick Advocaat is looking for. You can’t blame Advocaat and those at Zenit for trying to make the most money they can when the golden boy inevitably leaves, but £20million?

Arshavin scored twice during Euro 2008 after missing the first two games because of suspension. He then excelled in the wins against Sweden and Holland, deservedly being awarded the man of the match award in both games. Unfortunately for him and Russia, he was anonymous in the semi-final defeat to Spain.

Arshavin is twenty-seven years old. He has been a player at Zenit St Petersburg for eight years, making his first team debut back in 2000. He has made thirty-seven appearances for Russia over the six years he has represented his country.

Is it really only Zenit’s run in the Uefa cup, together with two, admittedly brilliant, performances that have changed this player from someone that nobody had ever heard of into one of the most sought after and highly rated players in the world?

It has been agreed that Arshavin won’t play for Zenit whilst he considers his future. Advocaat told the BBC, “It’s a joint decision. Better put, I told him he shouldn’t play and he agreed.”

I can’t really see Advocaat as a man who goes in for joint decisions. He reminds me of the legendary Brian Clough who once said that if a player disagreed with him they went into his office, discussed it for a short while until the player agreed that Clough was right and then he would allow the player to go!

The point I am making about Arshavin is that I can’t believe that clubs like Barcelona would be prepared to spend this sort of money on a player based on a handful of games.

There are only four possibilities. The first is that Arshavin was not very good until this season and at the age of twenty-seven, has suddenly become a great player. Unlikely.

The second is that clubs have been tracking him for months and years just waiting to make their move. Unlikely, because if they had made their move prior to those two games in the Euros he would have been a whole lot cheaper.

The third possibility is that he is a player who has simply slipped through the scouting net for a few years. It is surely unthinkable that a player playing regular first-team football anywhere in Europe is able to avoid the detection of the highly paid scouts in every country representing all of the top clubs.

That means that the fourth possibility must be the most likely. Is it possible that Arshavin has been watched several times in the past by coaches and scouts and not done enough to entice the big clubs to part with any cash? Is it actually possible that prior to the Euros nobody was particularly interested in signing him, but on the strength of two great performances they are now prepared to contemplate paying £20million for him?

If Barcelona do turn out to be the club who make this purchase which would have to be described as a gamble, does anyone else think that it seems like a desperate president trying to placate the fans after a difficult season by buying the current world superstar?

For all I know, Arshavin may go to Barcelona and be an absolute revelation. He may be player of the season and score forty goals. I don’t know if that is likely because I think I have only seen him play about six times. I don’t remember him in the first two of those, he was OK in the third, very good in the fourth, brilliant in the fifth and poor in the sixth.

I just can’t believe that Pep Guardiola has pleaded with his board to break the bank to get Arshavin at the club because he is the answer to their problems.

I’m sorry but I simply don’t understand why Barcelona would want to risk that sort of money on a player who has been around for many years but has probably multiplied twenty times in value on the basis of two games.

Maybe somebody who has seen more of him play can explain why he is so good and why a club like Barca should pay so much for him?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Graham Fisher


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  • toro

    0 0

    perhaps the better idea to offer him on loan and see how he develop? maybe silly, huh?
    becoz 20M for him is way too expensive.

  • gaylord focker

    0 0

    well, imo arshavin isnt that great. i seen him play, and i dont see anything so spectacular that would make his value so high (20M). i agree with the person who wrote this article. arshavin is way overrated. the only reason why barca going after him cuz their president thinks that if they gamble and bring the world’s current ‘superstar’ to the club, all their problems will be solved.
    russian players maybe are under valued. but english players sure as aint over valued. people wonder why england did not make it to the finals. simple. look at the english league schedule. english players play A LOT more than any others. they’re obviously tired, frustrated, after all those games and whenever they play for their national team, they’re not themselves anymore.
    now back to the point where russian players ‘maybe’ under valued. we all saw how they played in euro 08. pure luck i say. the game they played with the dutch, obviously the dutch underestimated the russians and got their ass whipped. if the dutch played for real, there was no way russia couldve won. anyway, russian superstars are just average premier league players to me. 20M for arshavin? hah, thats just ridiculous.

  • Vassilij

    0 0

    Its simply : ashavin was always the russian superstar before the EM.
    He was always regarded as one of the best russian players, maybe ever, and simply, as the russians were not good in the European international cups, it doesn´t mean he was not known before. Just I think, most russian players stay at Zenith or CSKA, as most (regular) bayern players stay at bayern, unless a really big club wants them. Zenith St Petersburg, did won the UEFA cup with Ashavin,but the scouts would mostly look for younger players under the age of 20, so nobody would want him . It is obvious now, that, after the EM, but also because of the win, Russian stars (pogreymnyak,ashavin,pavlichenko, etc…) are getting rated highly, but the thing is, that they were under-valued before. Russia is of course, not the top country of football, but the younger russian players are really good and have a lot of talent. Just because some players play in the Premier League, it doesnt mean they are good. A keane who is valued over 25 million, and theo walscott over 40mio, its just odd. You can get a guess about what im talking about when you look at the fact that a) UK was not even in the EM , b)Germany-s B(almost C-Side) beat them at HOME .Overall my summary:
    A) ASHAVIN;talking about him:was always a star, especially in russia
    B) The scouts of big clubs are mostly looking for younger players, thats why he wasn´t really in the game
    C) Russian players and clubs are (were) under-valued.Look at CSKA (last year) and ZENITH (this year), talking about success…look at Russia squad…
    D)Players in Premier Division especially, and in Spanish first devision too, are over valued.
    fine

  • Ahmed Bilal

    0 0

    barca offered half the amount zenit are asking for, which was turned down.

  • Ahmed Bilal

    0 0

    barca offered half the amount zenit are asking for, which was turned down.

  • Vassilij

    0 0

    Its simply : ashavin was always the russian superstar before the EM.
    He was always regarded as one of the best russian players, maybe ever, and simply, as the russians were not good in the European international cups, it doesn´t mean he was not known before. Just I think, most russian players stay at Zenith or CSKA, as most (regular) bayern players stay at bayern, unless a really big club wants them. Zenith St Petersburg, did won the UEFA cup with Ashavin,but the scouts would mostly look for younger players under the age of 20, so nobody would want him . It is obvious now, that, after the EM, but also because of the win, Russian stars (pogreymnyak,ashavin,pavlichenko, etc…) are getting rated highly, but the thing is, that they were under-valued before. Russia is of course, not the top country of football, but the younger russian players are really good and have a lot of talent. Just because some players play in the Premier League, it doesnt mean they are good. A keane who is valued over 25 million, and theo walscott over 40mio, its just odd. You can get a guess about what im talking about when you look at the fact that a) UK was not even in the EM , b)Germany-s B(almost C-Side) beat them at HOME .Overall my summary:
    A) ASHAVIN;talking about him:was always a star, especially in russia
    B) The scouts of big clubs are mostly looking for younger players, thats why he wasn´t really in the game
    C) Russian players and clubs are (were) under-valued.Look at CSKA (last year) and ZENITH (this year), talking about success…look at Russia squad…
    D)Players in Premier Division especially, and in Spanish first devision too, are over valued.
    fine

  • gaylord focker

    0 0

    well, imo arshavin isnt that great. i seen him play, and i dont see anything so spectacular that would make his value so high (20M). i agree with the person who wrote this article. arshavin is way overrated. the only reason why barca going after him cuz their president thinks that if they gamble and bring the world’s current ‘superstar’ to the club, all their problems will be solved.
    russian players maybe are under valued. but english players sure as aint over valued. people wonder why england did not make it to the finals. simple. look at the english league schedule. english players play A LOT more than any others. they’re obviously tired, frustrated, after all those games and whenever they play for their national team, they’re not themselves anymore.
    now back to the point where russian players ‘maybe’ under valued. we all saw how they played in euro 08. pure luck i say. the game they played with the dutch, obviously the dutch underestimated the russians and got their ass whipped. if the dutch played for real, there was no way russia couldve won. anyway, russian superstars are just average premier league players to me. 20M for arshavin? hah, thats just ridiculous.

  • toro

    0 0

    perhaps the better idea to offer him on loan and see how he develop? maybe silly, huh?
    becoz 20M for him is way too expensive.

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