Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Man From St Petersburg


* The Man From St Petersburg is a thriller novel by Ken Follett and among my 2008 reading list.


But in this entry, I’m talking about the new Gooner**/Gunner who has just arrived at Arsenal from St Petersburg. I’m still happy that Arsène has finally managed to sign Arshavin for Arsenal (say ‘Arsène signed Arshavin for Arsenal’ a few times to test your tongue!), kicking off his addiction to signing teenagers for once.

** I heard him say a few times that he was a Gooner rather than a Gunner and am concluding that he has been a Gooner for a while before even signing a deal with the club. Today’s edition of The Sun confirmed it too.

Even after arriving at the Emirates, the Arshavin storm kept brewing (read more about it here, here, here and here). If anything, I think the blame should be placed on Zenit who couldn’t make up their mind how much they wanted to sell Shava for. But actually the deal was done in the nick of time and even sped up by Shava himself. I like this chap already for his commitment to join Arsenal and his focus!

A fellow Gooner saw an interview with one of the agents that worked on behalf of Arsenal to get the deal done and it was quite interesting he said -
- Arsenal ended up paying more than they had hoped. He didn’t reveal the figure but probably around 15 million
- Zenit were almost impossible to deal with and didn’t seem to want to sell no matter what until the very last moment
- Arshavin late yesterday afternoon (2 February 2009) was near despair and sat down on the floor with his head in his hands saying. ‘This is not going to happen. They won’t let me go. They won’t let me go.’
- All paperwork was faxed before 5 and he called it ‘a miracle’
- Arsenal went ‘above and beyond’ to make it happen and were ‘extremely positive’ in their negotiations
- He went out with Arshavin for a drink last night and Arshavin was so excited about the move and happy to be an Arsenal player that he wore an Arsenal shirt the whole evening.

Another Gooner said the same thing: ‘Arshavin late yesterday afternoon (2 February 2009) was near despair and sat down on the floor with his head in his hands saying, ‘This is not going to happen. They won’t let me go. They won’t let me go.’ (When it materialised) Arshavin was so excited about the move and happy to be an Arsenal player that he wore an Arsenal shirt the whole evening.’ Bless the chap!

‘But now I am a Gunner,’ Arshavin said, with obvious pride, before issuing a stirring rally cry to the Arsenal faithful. ‘Trust in me, and trust in Arsenal,’ he concluded.




In Arsene we trust. And now in Arshavin we trust too!!! It seemed like the whole transfer saga was a miracle come true! Arshavin deserves his chance to live his dream. Oh but did you know that Arshavin is a multi-talented player too (besides his new Captain who can draw!)? He can design clothes!

Read Tony Cascarino, take on the winners and losers of the transfer window here.