Arsenal's on-off chase for Arshavin drags on

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE ARSENAL MOVES:ARSENAL REMAIN hopeful of completing the signing of Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin after a frenetic day of negotiations in north London.

Amazingly for a deal which has been under discussion for the duration of the January transfer window, the 27-year-old’s proposed move has gone to the wire, with the deadline already gone and no official word on the player’s future.

However, Arsenal submitted paperwork to the Premier League saying it has agreed to sign Russian forward Arshavin, one of the player’s agents said yesterday.

But earlier, Zenit St Petersburg spokesman Alexey Petrov said that the transaction, which has been under discussion for more than a month, was off and Arshavin would return to Russia.

If Arshavin does become a Gunner, it is likely to cost manager Arsene Wenger around €16.5 million – a club record.

It is understood that Arshavin would wear the number 13 shirt vacated by Alexander Hleb when he joined Barcelona last year.

The transfer looked likely to proceed in a relatively straightforward fashion when the Zenit St Petersburg midfielder was pictured in Hertfordshire yesterday morning, having flown into London on Sunday.

That appeared to be a signal that Arsene Wenger’s interest in the player was about to yield results, but sources close to the deal then revealed that Arshavin was on his way back to a London airport and the transfer was on the brink of collapse.

But negotiations continued behind the scenes – with the asking price, personal terms and a possible payment from Arshavin to Zenit all mooted as potential sticking points – and a final deal may still be struck.

Arshavin was identified early on as the club’s number one target as Wenger looked to compensate for the losses of long-term injury absentees Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott.

But the pursuit has proved a troubled one, with contradictory early statements from Arsenal and Zenit providing a hint of the difficulties to come.

The clubs struggled to come to an agreement over the fee and then Arshavin’s wage demands appeared to put the move in doubt.

Zenit, though, looked to be readying themselves for life without their star attraction and yesterday finalised the capture of Hungarian midfielder Szabolcs Huszti.

However, there was some good news for Arsenal yesterdat, with Wenger revealing that Walcott could be just a month away from a comeback.

Walcott has been missing since dislocating his shoulder on international duty in November but is progressing well and could be available by the beginning of March. “Walcott is the closest because he has four weeks before he sees a specialist again and he should get the green light,” Wenger said.