I won’t play for Zenit again – Arshavin
European clubs should take note – Andrey Arshavin has said he will not play for Zenit again and is desperate to leave. The Russian star was on the verge of moving to Tottenham after Euro 2008 but stayed in St Petersburg despite his willingness.
“If I won’t leave the club during the winter break I will be a Zenit player only on paper. I don’t want to play for the club next year and I won’t do it,” Andrey Arshavin said talking to Russian sports newspaper Sport-express.
The 27-year-old was one of the country's top players at the European Championships, scoring important goals against Sweden and Holland and helped Russia reach the semi-finals.
His value skyrocketed after that but when Spurs refused the € 27 million asking price, the deal was dead. Instead of him the London side took another Russian Euro 2008 hero – Roman Pavluchenko from Spartak Moscow, who is now scoring goals for the club.
Arshavin said the reason he didn’t move to a big European club in summer is the unreasonably high price Zenit wanted for his transfer.
It seems now that Arshavin is back on the market and could leave during the upcoming winter transfer market.
Along with Tottenham, Barcelona, Newcastle and Manchester United have been interested in the attacker.
Advocaat stays at Zenit
At the opposite end of the spectrum Arshavin's current coach, Dick Advocaat, has signed on for at least another 12 months with the 2007 Russian champions.
The contract extension comes on the back of Zenit's 2-0 Champions league win over BATE Borisov on Wednesday.
There was no official ceremony of putting pen to paper, with the deal being done after the team's open training session.
Advocaat has enjoyed success with the St. Petersburg side on both the domestic and European level. The 61-year-old guided Zenit to its first ever Premier League Title and maiden UEFA Cup win during his tenure, which started in July of 2006.
