Liveblogging the Andrei Arshavin deal deadline

Today is Arsenal’s self imposed deadline for something to happen in the Andrei Arshavin transfer deal. Follow along with me as I obsessively hit “refresh” in my Google Reader, hoping for a nibble of fact in this deal.

6:10 am — ZOMG HAVE YOU HEARD??? Charlie N’Zogbia, who has been angling for a transfer to Arsenal for the last 4 years, has told the world that he would rather play for Aston Villa, because they are going to win the Champions League or something. This is proof for the doom and gloomers that Arsenal are going to miss out on recruiting “top players” and start the downward spiral toward empty stadiums and relegation. No news on Arshavin.

6:12 am — No news on Arshavin.

6:15 am — SPUDS SIGN CUDICHINI!!! Another top player that Arsenal have missed out on. No news on Arshavin.

6:18 am — I should give this mess an intro… done. No Arshavin news.

6:21 am — I have to get ready for work. The FA 5th round draw has been made and if we can get past Cardiff we’ll either face Jay Simpson with WBA or Carling Cup nemesis Burnley. Funny how that works, eh?

6:24 am — nietski newski Arshavin

6:26 am — Philippe Senderos played a whole 90 minutes for AC Milan: I heard his performance was a bunch of Bologna. Uhhh, all the other kids on loan played too, no one scored or did anything spectacular.

6:35 am — @leon, yes, the deadline is Monday, today is Monday! Did you guys hear that Arsenal supporters had a stand off with Cardiff supporters after the FA Cup match? What decade is this?

6:38 am — OMG ARSHAVIN NEWS… Zenit have abandonded their £20m overvaluation of Arshavin and the teams are “locked in talks.” Maybe Wenger heard all of your frustrations about how spending the extra few Million won’t break the bank?

6:43 am — Dan in the comments mentions that the deal is being reported “good as done” in the Russian press. Too bad I don’t speak Russian. 🙁

6:45 am — I scooped L’Equipe! No Arshavin News, in English.  Also, I went to that Russian newspaper link that Dan supplied and then on to another link and got this (edited for content):

nooooooooooo

THANKS FOR NOTHING DAN.

6:51 am — got to go to work, will check my Google Reader when I get there. How many of you use Google Reader? No Arshavin News.

7:45 am — dang, it’s freezing out here, took me 10 minutes just to warm the car up for my 10 minute drive to work! No Arshavin news, but the comedy of Spurs just keeps delivering; looks like they have signed Chimbonda back from Sunderland. This confirms, what? That Spuds are bat-shit crazy? Who’s next on Spurs “Oh crap we screwed up” transfer list? Gazza?

8:06 am — HA! Not Gazza, Keane! I don’t know, I couldn’t make up something that funny. I just hope Liverpool charge Spuds like £25m for him. Since Arsenal are not doing anything, I have to wonder, does it get any better than watching our North London “rivals” try to assemble the “dream team” that got them to the lofty heights of 5th place 2 years ago and 11th place last year? I say no, it doesn’t.

8:17 am — @Patrick, the odds are 100% that Arsenal supporters will find something to whine about regardless of what happens with this deal. Wenger could buy the entire Man U squad and supporters would complain about something: “Ronaldo doesn’t look like he’s giving 100%! Sell him to Real!”

9:02 am — “first again” goonerforum is recylcing reports that I have seen other places that has Usmanov buying Arshavin. This is not news, this is speculation, news happens when the club report Arshavin has signed.  Also, goonerforum should get their own look — The funny thing about them is that I think they wanted to do a link exchange but I found their content to be, well, stupid.

10:48 am — ArSHAVIN NEWS! Dangit, no it’s not… ESPNSoccernet is reporting the quotes that were attributed to Andrei earlier in the week in a cheap stunt to try to generate hits, just like I’ve been doing! HA HA I scooped ESPN!

10:54 am — Setanta has reported that they will be showing the Arsenal – Cardiff replay on Tuesday the 3rd of Feb.

10:58 am — Micah Richards is denying that he’s coming to Arsenal. There was a ton of speculation that the England CB was the target of Arsene during the summer when he made his famous remarks about “getting someone from the EPL” which turned out to be a failed bid for Alonso. I’m not sure how I feel about Richards, on the one hand I’ve always though he sucked. On the other hand, he’s sucked even more this year than any other. Now would be the perfect time to land him, because I doubt he could possibly suck any more than he does now!

3:37 pm — HOLY CRAP!!!! I’ve been gone all day “working” and suddenly check my gReader an WHAM Shitanta is reporting that Arsenal and Zenit have agreed to terms and all that is left is for Arshavin and Arsenal to agree to terms… {record scratch} what? That’s not right. That’s not what anyone has been saying all along, Arshavin has been saying all along that he’s already agreed to terms and that the clubs need to agree. What kind of football jokers are these Zenit people?

GOD DAMNIT this is going to last longer than a bad case of crabs, innit?

My inside source tells me that Arsneal threw in two black players as a makeweight and that Zenit was so horrified by this prospect that they cut the deal down to £8m. Or maybe I made that last bit up.

Anyway “full” analysis of this massively important and ground breaking development in the morning, I got more stuff to do.

0 comments

  1. sorry i dought that wil happen arsenal have already stated that zenit have until monday to make there decision

  2. zenits revised fee is 17m and we are still only willing to stick to our 12+3 offer …however usmanov has stated that he is ready to join the negotiations ‘if needs be’. He is on the board of gazprom, the company that have holdings in Zenit and is willing to put up the 2 million needed for the deal to go through. Life.ru and sovsport.ru both reporting that the deal is virtually done and should be confirmed today 26th jan 09.

  3. It wud b wonderful if v add Arshavin to our lifeless squad.
    All of us have seen wat ADE has done dis season…
    Missed a chocolate one against cardiff on sunday.
    Why Arsene do not just offloaf him? Do you ppl think he cud ever replace TH14(Theirry Henry 14)- the great?

  4. dan
    i disagree i think arsenal are to another offer and i dought any other club is going come in but either way the have until end od today

  5. How about a 12+5 million offer. Honestly, if it’s performance based and Arshavin earns the extra 5 million, won’t it be worth it considering that means he would have scored goals.

  6. i also think we should cash in on ade in the summer if he doesn’t start doing much better. the misses are one thing but he looks lazy now. we need that work rate he used to have badly again. also with eduardo coming back, i don’t think we will be able to justify his wages and refusing high bids for him considering we won’t miss him much right now.

    if he starts doing much better than that can change though, it’s just how i feel with his performances so far.

  7. What are the odds we get Arshavin only for him to tear a muscle and be laid off for a month or more with a niggling injury and then Wenger is criticised for not strengthening his squad to account for potential injuries?

  8. The biggest plus about Arshavin is that in comparison to the Russian winter, England will be like a tropical paradise and he should already have the ability to warm up his muscles under intense wintry conditions (lol).

  9. I would love to see the two teams, Arsenal and Zenith to settle down on a negotiated price for this much talk about once and foe all.

    Well, if there is no solution this problem, then. let arsenal put her house into order and pay more attention to the remaining games both in the FA cup and the legue.

    it is my opinion that Arsenal can still make a big come back through proper coordination and with a focused mind toward the remaining games.

    Keep the courage Gunners!

  10. has anybody else considered the same as this…

    tommy has been mentioned quite a few times recrntly, he’s talked himself about returning from injury and his agent has said similar things. wenger just yesterday mentioned him being ages away.

    i wonder if tommy and his agent are trying to keep themselves in wenger’s mind by claiming that he can still offer us a lot just so that we don’t buy arshavin. if we buy him we will have so many players in that sort of role. i still really want tommy at arsenal and think he’s one of our best players easily atm, but i do wonder if with these injuries and the presence of nasri, walcott, arshavin, vela and wilshere that he’s scared he’ll be forced down the pecking order and sold.

    i think when he’s totally fit he’s got to be playing really. he’s top class, he just needs about 4 or so games in a row to find his top form then he’s a class act. but from wenger’s point of view if we get andrei then he might see tommy as a lot of wages and might expect him to get injured again soon.

    anybody else considered this? if so do you agree?

  11. You’ve always thought Richards sucked? Really? He had a great season last year. I’d rather having him patrolling our defensive line than Gallas.

  12. Micah Richards to patrol the CB position at Arsenal?

    Just what we need, another midget player who can’t defend the long ball.

    Sell Eboue and get Richards to cover RB and play some DM would make more sense.

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