Arshavin price tag wards off Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona

BBC Sport reports that Zenit St Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat, has put a £20 million price-tag on playmaker Andrei Arshavin, who appears to have played his last game for the club.

Arshavin, 27, is thought to prefer a move to Barcelona who has already approached Zenit about the player. But according to Russian media reports, Arshavin is in London this week to hold talks with both Arsenal and Chelsea.

“We can’t keep hold of the player if someone offers good money – in the region of £20m to £25m,” said Advocaat.

However, Arshavin’s agent Dennis Lachter says Chelsea have ended their interest in the player after signing Portugal midfielder Deco from Barcelona. “I don’t believe that after this acquisition of Deco the club have retained their interest in Arshavin,” Lachter told Russian paper Sovetsky Sport.

Also, with Arsene Wenger explicitly describing Arsenal’s youth policy and purchasing rationale, it seems highly unlikely that the Emirates board would meet that valuation as well.

Said Wenger is a report on Foxsports, “The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players,” “We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions — national and European — while having to free up — for 17 more years — an annual surplus of £24million to pay for our stadium.”

“The club’s strategy is to favor the policy of youngsters ahead of stars and to count on the collective quality of our game.”

Advocaat has given Arshavin, who earned rave reviews for his performances during Euro 2008, leave of absence while he decides his future. “Andrei won’t play until things are all cleared up,” said Advocaat.

[Source: BBC Sport, Foxsports.com]