Arshavin transfer on the way, says agent – report

Highly-rated Russian forward Andrei Arshavin could finally be on his way to Europe after his agent said the Zenit St Petersburg player was almost certain to be sold in the transfer window.

Arshavin has been linked to Arsenal, Tottenham and Real Madrid and, according to a BBC website report Tuesday his agent, Dennis Lachter, said Arshavin and Zenit had agreed that he should find a new club in January.

“He will definitely move in January or the player and club will lose money,” Lachter said.

“Zenit and Andrei understand that it is time for them to part from each other.”

Arshavin, 27, was linked with Tottenham last summer following his impressive performances at Euro 2008, and this week Zenit general director Maxim Mitrofanov was quoted as saying his price tag was 20 million pounds and they hoped Arsenal would make an offer.

But Lachter denied reports that the player had visited both teams' training grounds on a recent trip to London.

“That is not true,” he said.

“I was in London and he was there too, but the only reason he was there was to shoot an advert for a company he has a contract with.

“I was at the Tottenham training ground, but it looks like someone saw me there and made the connection – he's never been there, either to Arsenal or Tottenham.”

Lachter also denied reports that the player had said he was only interested in playing for Barcelona and was uninterested in England.

“Arshavin never said he wanted only to play in Spain. Once again I believe a lot of things in the media just came from nowhere,” he said.

“If I were following a dream life, I could be out of this job two or three months ago as due to the explanation of the newspapers, he should already be the player of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Inter Milan – whatever.”