Arshavin to Arsenal?

So...in some good transfer news, according to the Telegraph Arsenal lead the "race" to sign Andrei Arshavin after Chelsea withdrew their interest, post-Deco (who, by the way, I love. It's going to be painful seeing him in blue this season).

Arshavin wants a contract of £6.3 million/year, and current club Zenit are asking for at least a £20 million transfer fee, which I can't imagine Wenger will agree to. According to the story, the director general of Zenit, Maxim Mitrofanov, confirmed that there has been only one firm bid for Arshavin, a £12.5 m offer from Barcelona. Is he worth more? Er, no. One good Euro showing does not a great player make, as Yoda might say.

Still, he IS good, and his style would fit right in chez Arsenal (so would the rest of the Russian team's, actually. Maybe we should consider Zhirkov and Pavlyuchenko). On the other hand, with Nasri having allegedly signed, I might argue that we need a central defender AND a holding midfielder more.

"Several potential buyers are involved as clubs sell their players," his agent said. "Arshavin's future may be dependent on conversations about Hleb, Adebayor, Cristiano Ronaldo and others." Yup, exactly. So we'll see.

That said, here's the best part of the story: 'Arshavin has his heart set on a move to London because he believes it will be more valuable for his children to learn English than Spanish... A source close to the Russia playmaker explained that Arshavin, who values education sufficiently to have completed a university diploma in fashion design, is keen for his two-year-old son, Artyom, and his three-month-old daughter Yulia, to experience life in Britain.'

HAHA. Putting aside the fact that you can, in fact, learn English in Spain, let's all savor the 'university diploma in fashion design' bit. HAHA.