In the end Arshavin stayed another 6 months before joining Arsenal in January 2009 for a club record fee reported between £13-17 million. His transfer was far from straight forward, with negotiations over compensation payments as well as arctic like conditions causing delays that saw the transfer officially completed almost 24 hours after the window had been due to shut.
As an Arsenal fan, I remember staying up all night, praying that he’d sign. He arrived in London eager to impress having left behind the security of his hometown club where he had scored 52 goals in 236 games.
Andrei instantly became a fan favourite with his famous ‘I am Gooner’ proclamation on the night of his arrival, his loveable ‘meerkat’ manor and a dazzling first goal against Blackburn made for a good first impression.
A good first few months in England culminated in a stunning individual display at Anfield on a crazy night at Anfield. With the scores at 3-3 following an Arshavin hat-trick Liverpool got a corner in the 90th minute, which was cleared to the feet of Theo Walcott who instantly tore off down the field away from the Kop End towards the Liverpool goal.
Despite his blistering pace he appeared isolated until a small Russian wearing the number 23 shirt appeared at the bottom of the screen, his tiny legs motoring away from a helpless Alvaro Arbeloa and dispatching brilliantly past a helpless Pepe Reina. It’s the fitness shown in this 90th minute, length of the field burst that makes what would follow all the more puzzling.
The remainder of Arshavin’s Arsenal career to date has been dominated by inconsistency. A glorious winner at the Emirates against Barcelona and another stunning strike at, you guessed it, Anfield will live long in the memory of Gooners and yet his loaning back to Zenit in the latter stages of the 2011-12 season with Arsenal involved in a scrap with local rivals Tottenham for 4th place speak volumes. As does his restriction to domestic cup and substitute appearances this season.
Much has been made of his deployment in a wide role rather than the central one he occupied at Zenit and indeed for Russia, with Arsene Wenger on the receiving end of much criticism. Yet the harsh truth is that a fit and focused Andrei Arshavin is good enough to play anywhere, and play there well, with versatility so key to his development at Zenit.
Personally, I find it extremely difficult to give up on a player who is not only unbelievably talented, but an extremely likeable character. On the other hand, it is also difficult to sympathise with a man who turned down the chance to revive his Premier League career with a loan spell at Reading in January.
Whichever way you look at it though, it is difficult to arrive at the conclusion that retirement is the way forward. As recently as Euro 2012 he showed that when he’s in the mood and when used as a focal point he can pull strings with the best of them. So surely this summer, given that he’s on a free, someone will take a punt on him.
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