The schemer who led Russia to the semis of Euro 2008
was on the verge of joining Tottenham last summer but his club
priced him out of the market.
Now Zenit have relented and Arshavin, 27, has switched
his focus.
He insisted: “I still have a desire to play abroad and
I’d like to play either in Spain or England.
“Barcelona are my favourite team and in England there
is Manchester United and Chelsea.”
Zenit general manager Maxim Mitrofanov confirmed: “We
gave Arshavin permission to negotiate directly with other
clubs.
“Usually a player who has a running contract with a
team isn’t allowed to do it. But Zenit are prepared to consider any
offers for Arshavin.”
Spurs and Rangers were among clubs linked with him and,
with his compatriot Roman Pavlyuchenko already on their books, the
North London club were confident of securing Arshavin’s
services.
But Zenit manager Dick Advocaat dealt a further blow to
Tottenham’s ambitions by saying: “As a manager I would like
Arshavin to stay but as a person I realise that he deserves
more.
“But Andrei is too good for Spurs or Rangers. It would
be better for him to stay in St Petersburg than to go there or
Glasgow. Tottenham has a fine reputation but I doubt he will want
to move there.
“I do not want to offend Roman Pavlyuchenko, but in my
opinion Arshavin is a much classier player. He needs to move to a
really great club. He didn’t show his best form recently for St
Petersburg.”