Archive for February 4th, 2009

More Arshavin Reaction + Competition

44 comments February 4th, 2009

So, Andrey (as the club have officially registered him) Arshavin is finally an Arsenal player.  More than a month after our opening bid, and a full 24 hours after the transfer deadline had passed, his deal was rubber-stamped and the transfer went through.  A little bit of joy and a lottle bit of relief ensued, and now, with our transfer-thirst quenched, attention can turn to the serious stuff: the football that remains in this challenging season.

As soon as the deal was announced, Arshavin emerged from the Emirates Stadium to greet the fans who had assembled to celebrate his arrival.  He also gave his first interview as an Arsenal player, and you can watch that here.  He comes across very well, and his English is pretty good.  There’s one particularly amusing comment about International colleague and Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko: “He is not a friend of mine”.

Of course, many are wondering if the two Russians will face off at the weekend, but I reckon that’s unlikely.  Arshavin will now return to St. Petersburg to collect his toothbrush and obtain the neccessary documentation to secure his work permit.  Considering the fact that he will have barely trained with us, let alone played at anything approaching a competetive level since November, it may be a couple of weeks before he’s even considered for selection.

Arsene Wenger said he was “delighted” to sign Arshavin, and added:

“He is a player I have admired for a long time. He is a versatile player with great experience, who will add real quality to our squad. Andrey is an exciting impact player with a huge amount of ability and has been an influential force with both Zenit St Petersburg and the Russian national team in recent seasons.”

Whilst new CEO Ivan Gazidis commented:

“Andrey was identified by Arsène as a quality creative player that would add something special to this youthful but talented squad. The Board has always backed the manager with his transfer targets and we are delighted to welcome Andrey to the Club where he will help us to challenge for honours this season.”

Although Ken Friar did most of the negotiating on this deal, it’s good for Gazidis to have the first signing of his time at the club under his belt.  Having been at the club for just over a month now, he has given his first major interview to The Times – and giving it a read over, it seems the club’s ethos has already got under his skin.  Dealing with Zenit has obviously made some impression on him though, as he compares life in the Premier League to the Wild West – understandable, when it was clearly such a complicated and difficult deal.

Amidst the Arshavin hullabaloo there was one deal I think I neglected to mention, which was that Portugese striker Rui Fonte joined Crystal Palace on loan.  He’s a slight lad but very talented, and I hope he does well there.

West Brom went out of the FA Cup to Burnley last night, which means we know now who we’ll face in the fifth round.  Bizzarely, due to our game against Cardiff being rescheduled for the 16th, we may well know our route to the semi-finals before we’ve even played our fourth round tie.

After that brief, distinctly un-Owly interlude: a competition.  Our friends over at arseshirts have given me one of these rather cracking Arshavin t-shirts (pictured right) to give away, made from the purest owl-skin.

To win, simply email your name and address to arshavincomp@gunnerblog.com, and answer me this question:

Who is better: Andrei Arshavin or Emmanuel Eboue?

The correct entries will be entered into a lottery, and the winner announced on Friday.  No cheating, now – if I find out any of you have been using wikipedia or something I will be severely hacked off.

I’ll be giving away a different, yet equally handsome Arshavin t-shirt to one of my twitter followers.  Keep an eye on my tweets today for details of that competition and how you can win.

And with that, we close the chapter on the transfer window and a real soap opera in Gunnerblog’s brief history (at least, I hope it’s the end – there better be no truth in any stories of legal wranglings).  I’m sorry for any misinformation I brought you, but I really was going hell for leather to try and get to the bottom of this deal.  Over the past few weeks I’ve pestered the FA, the Premier League, the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, and various agents to try and uncover the latest on one of the most complicated transfer deals I can remember.  And not because I want to rack up hits, but because I have a nigh-childlike level of excitement about transfers.  I steadfastly refuse to be cynical about it – there is something undeniably thrilling about your club capturing a player you’ve long admired, and when it comes to Arshavin that is undoubtedly the case.  Thankfully, we’ve pulled this one off, and now attention can refocus on what is a massive game with Spurs at the weekend.

If we were to win, the morale of the fans would be higher than it’s been in a long while.  Let’s make it happen.


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