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Barcelona wanted Arshavin as a substitute
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Editor at Sunday, 14 September 2008
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Asked about the transfer soap opera regarding to Zenit Saint Petersburg forward and Russian international Andrei Arshavin (27) this summer, Zenit general director Maxim Mitrofanov has said in an interview with Russian sports paper Sport-Express that Barcelona didn't want to spend big on the Russian attacker because they didn't see him as a first-choice player:
"As you remember, Zenit allegedly got offers from Arsenal, Chelsea and many other clubs. But the first offer came from Barcelona as saying they wanted to buy Arshavin for 15 million euro°. After that we started negotiations with the Catalan club and brought out our position according to the matter, that we were not going to sell our leading player for this sum of money.
The Spanish camp representatives were honest with us and said they wanted to acquire Arshavin as a player who would come as a substitution. However they were not ready to pay 20-25 million euro° for Andrei Arshavin, and as a result Barcelona acquired Alexandr Hleb.
We also considered Tottenham offer. The Spurs sporting director came to Saint-Petersburg to hold talks with Arshavin. He told about the team, its main targets. Then Totenham sent an official 16 million euro offer to Zenit, as they were going to pay this sum during four years. This deal was unacceptable for us.
From supporters’ point of view many of them think that Arshavin should switch to a foreign club, but majority of them are convinced he should play in Zenit forever. However it’s wrong to see the situation from this angle. They need to understand that club has its own goals and targets, the player earns money in the club and we do everything to make our players’ life comfortable.
Arshavin’s contract is one of the best in Russian Premier League, so we didn’t review his contract conditions this summer. Andrei wanted to leave, but Zenit made no attempts to improve his contract with the club."
Read more:
Arshavin confirms Barcelona offer
Di Maria and Arshavin will be monitored
Arshavin didn't convince Guardiola
The Spanish camp representatives were honest with us and said they wanted to acquire Arshavin as a player who would come as a substitution. However they were not ready to pay 20-25 million euro° for Andrei Arshavin, and as a result Barcelona acquired Alexandr Hleb.
We also considered Tottenham offer. The Spurs sporting director came to Saint-Petersburg to hold talks with Arshavin. He told about the team, its main targets. Then Totenham sent an official 16 million euro offer to Zenit, as they were going to pay this sum during four years. This deal was unacceptable for us.
From supporters’ point of view many of them think that Arshavin should switch to a foreign club, but majority of them are convinced he should play in Zenit forever. However it’s wrong to see the situation from this angle. They need to understand that club has its own goals and targets, the player earns money in the club and we do everything to make our players’ life comfortable.
Arshavin’s contract is one of the best in Russian Premier League, so we didn’t review his contract conditions this summer. Andrei wanted to leave, but Zenit made no attempts to improve his contract with the club."
Read more:
Arshavin confirms Barcelona offer
Di Maria and Arshavin will be monitored
Arshavin didn't convince Guardiola