English Premiership
Arsenal confirm Arshavin deal
2009-02-03 12:18
Spread the word, look who's coming to London (Gallo Images)
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Moscow - Zenit St Petersburg confirmed on Tuesday that their international midfielder Andrei Arshavin has been signed by English Premier League giants Arsenal.
However the Russian side said the value of the deal was higher than the 12 million pounds announced by Arsenal on Monday.
"Both clubs have managed to complete the deal. Arshavin will play for Arsenal from now on," Alexei Petrov, a spokesperson for Zenit told Russian television.
Petrov added that Zenit received much more money than 12 million pounds, which Arsenal announced on Monday, refusing however to disclose the final value of the deal.
"The conditions of the contract are very favourable for Zenit," Petrov said. "The value of the deal is much more than 12 million pounds."
On Monday sources at the English Premiership side announced that Arshavin had joined Arsenal till June 2012.
But several hours after the 17:30GMT transfer deadline passed, there was still no formal confirmation of Arshavin's transfer.
However, it appeared the hold-up was primarily to do with the difficulty the Premier League had in processing the sheer volume of late deadline day deals and that the move would go through on Tuesday.
Conflicting signals had been emerging from Arsenal's Emirates stadium and Russia throughout the day as the deadline came and went and a Zenit club spokesperson had even said the deal had fallen through.
The deal apparently hit a last-minute snag when Zenit demanded a portion of Arshavin's signing on fee.
He will probably not make his debut for the Gunners for a few weeks because he will have to work on physical conditioning to adapt to the rigours of the English game.
The 27-year-old was a major revelation at the Euro 2008 tournament when Russia reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual champions Spain.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger has on many occasions spoken of his admiration for the player.