Who's the last Russian to do well in England?
I've been thinking a lot about the Andrei Arshavin situation over the weekend.
Certainly, he is a great player, although I am still concerned why it has taken him until the age of 27 to become such a revered player.
It was said that he had his heart set on a move to Barcelona, but whether it is he fee or his wage demands, that move seems not to be developing.
Step up Dennis Lachter, Arshavin's agent, who seems to be trying to get his player a move to Emirates while all other suitors go silent.
"The stable situation in the club and the influence of Arsene Wenger to Arsenal and to English football is huge. I think this is an advantage. If Arsenal go for Arshavin it could be really good for both parties. Arsenal is a very young team and Arshavin is 27.
"There's something about combining young and older players, they propagate attacking football."
Even if you disregard Wenger's comments about the player after he struggled in Russia's final game of Euro2008, he still doesn't fit the mould of a player who Wenger would buy in terms of age and price.
If you look at players from the former Russian Federation, as well, it doesn't exactly bode well for a move to the Premiership.
Liverpool's Andrei Voronin, Chavski's Andrei Shevchenko and T*ttenh*am's Sergey Rebrov have all failed to impose themselves consistently on the English game - you have to go back to Andrei Kanchelskis a decade ago for the last player from that part of the world who really excited fans. Even our own Oleg Luzhny was hardly a great success.
Ask yourself this: would you like to see Arshavin in an Arsenal shirt? Or would a consistent goalscorer in the Huntelaar mould be a more suitable replacement for the seemingly departing Manu Adebayor?
David Alexander
Reader Comments (5)
huntelaar for 20m... arshavin for 20m... well if u ask me, on one hand we have a proven goal-scorer...and when i say "proven" i mean in a league format... and on the other hand, a player we've come to appreciate in the knockout games (UEFA Cup, Euro'08).. and thou Huntelaar looks much more promising, i'd absolutely love Aguero to come to the Emirates...
Voronin, Sheva, Rebrov and Luzhny are Ukranian, not Russian :)
Hi Martin - that's why I said "Former Russian Federation" of which Ukraine was a part.
I thought Luzhny did quite well, towards the later part. Still remember a feint at the byline where a striker slid n hit the ad boards.
arshavin is old news. it's done, ain't happinin', period. the russian i want to see and who had a much more consistent and appealing euro was yuri zhirkov, he'e the one arsenal could use. imagine glichy, zhirkov and nasri or vela together on the left? glichy would have to patrol the opponents box to have anything to do!! (nice blog in general by the way).