Here’s a list of my favourite Russians of all time:
1 – Rasputin
2 – Does Oleg Luzhny count?
3 – Boris Slutsky (who couldn’t have him in their list? Of course he just edged out Ivan Slapperkov).
4 – That’s it.
So there’s plenty of room for a new Russian to make the list and all things going well Andrei Arshavin will be that Russian.
Arsenal officials are in Moscow, apparently, which seems a bit odd as St Petersburg is where Zenit play. It’d like someone trying to buy one of our players and flying to Hull. Maybe there’s some kind of meet-in-the-middle vibe going on. A sign that Zenit are willing to compromise on price and conditions. Arshavin’s agent says:
There is no concrete news yet but on Tuesday there could be.
Well there you go then. There could, perhaps, maybe, be some concrete news. Or their might could maybe not be. With the fall through of the Kaka deal there are those who think that Manchester City might now try and gazump us for the signing of the Owlish one but they’ve just signed Craig Bellamy. How much more intense and double-hard quality do they need?
There’s no doubt a deal for Arshavin is close and even if City come in does the player want to join a club engaged in a relegation battle? A team rightly scorned for their ridiculous attempt to sign a player way too good for them and way out of their reach? If he does there’s not much we can do about that but it’d say plenty about the character of Arshavin.
I suspect, all things going well, we’ll announce him in the next day or two and work can immediately begin on finding a nice barn for him and his family to move into.
Tomas Rosicky has been talking about his condition and the condition his condition is in. He’s upbeat, he’s positive, he’s hoping to be back soon, saying:
I’m working hard every day and I want to be back soon. I’m not the first, neither the last, player that has been out injured for a year. I am looking forward to when I will be able to say to the fans ‘I am fit and going to play at the weekend’. I believe it will not be a long wait.
Well that would be good news but realistically it’s going to be next season before we see a fully fit Rosicky. If he does get over the injury he’s got a huge amount of work to do to regain his fitness, then match fitness, and then he’s got to get used to playing again. A year without football means he’s got to regain his touch and sharpness and if the estimates which say March are correct – and let’s not forget the estimates haven’t been right yet – it’s going to take some time to get up to speed.
I’d be very glad to see him back in the squad though. There are games when we could have done with his craft, not to mention the icing on the cake goals he specialised in.
Meanwhile William Gallas says he’s going to see out his Arsenal contract, which apparently has two years left to run, and then decide on his future. Does he really have two years? I thought his contract would be up next summer.
Anyway, I suspect that Gallas might find himself moved on in the summer. I don’t see him coming straight back into the team on his return from injury, unless one of Kolo or Djourou picks up a knock, and I’m not sure not being first choice will sit well with him. When you consider everything else that’s gone on before I would be most surprised to see Gallas at the club next season, despite what he says.
And there you go. With the FA Cup game not until Sunday there’s nothing much else stirring. Fingers crossed our Russian delegation can come back with the goods. In the old days it was easy, just bring a truck load of Levi 501s and you could have any three players plus a priceless Kremlin artifact. It just shows how much football has changed.
Hasta mañana lechuzariños.
