The owners of Russian football champions Zenit St Petersburg will try to block the sale of their in-demand star player Andrey Arshavin by offering him a new contract. Energy giant Gazprom doesn’t want the forward to leav

Arshavin had a meeting with Zenit’s president Aleksandr Dukov on Wednesday. The player was offered a new two-year contract on much more advantageous terms.

The sums offered to Arshavin were not voiced, but the Russian international took a couple of days to think about the preposition.  

The current agreement between Arshavin and the club expires in 2010. The player’s salary is about € 3 million a year.

Arshavin became one of the biggest surprises of Euro 2008 and Barcelona and Chelsea head the queue of clubs desperate to pay big money for the player.

Negotiations with both European clubs are reported to be underway, with the price of Arshavin’s transfer expected to be in the region of € 20 million.

Arshavin has said that playing for Barcelona has been his dream since childhood and has made no secret of his desire to play abroad.  

Zenit, who are the reigning UEFA Cup holders after beating Glasgow Rangers in May’s final, have a lot of tough challenges ahead. The St Petersburg club face Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup in August. They also have to defend their domestic title, and then for the first time ever will represent Russia in the Champions League.