I’ve heard two things about Arshavin recently.
One, Wenger was negotiating with Arshavin last August, just after his brilliant showcase at Euro 2008, but could not meet his wage demands.
Two, when Arshavin signed in January, his wages were less than his agent boasted about. The Russian maestro wanted one big contract before he retired. But Arsenal did not give it to him. So he will leave after next season if Arsenal do not pay him what he’s worth. And if he leaves AFC, I leave ANR.
As I’ve said, Andrej Arshavin was better than Cristiano Ronaldo at Anfield, where he scored four goals in a 4-4 draw.
He is Arsenal’s finest player by far.
Since April 18, Arsenal have played Big Three teams five times : Arshavin drew one, Arsenal lost four others. And conceded 14 goals.
The only Arsenal striker who can play with Arshavin, or wants to play with him, is Bendtner.
He is a third striker like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, someone who comes on as a sub and scores. His goals-per-minutes ratio is fantastic.
Bendtner’s power-header against Chelsea was superb. He threw himself at the ball, just as Denis Law used to do, as Chelsea’s Ian Hutchinson used to do.
(Hutch was lucky because he played with Charlie Cooke, a great dribbler, Alan Hudson, a great playmaker, and Peter Osgood, an awesome all-round centre forward. That 1970 Chelsea forward line had balance and could score in many different ways.)
Philippe Auclair said on TalkSport that Arsenal should be rebuilt round Arshavin.
That has been my view ever since Arshavin’s first game. Philippe said a lot of other interesting stuff but I missed the broadcast, as I was out on Thursday night. On Friday morning I picked up the emails from pals telling me Philippe would be on. Phone calls from them later filled me in on what Philippe had said.
I trust two of the foreign football reporters: Balague and Auclair.