EPL:Spurs Turn to Russia In Search Of Firepower

With a poor start to the 2008/09 campaign along with a lack of scoring, Tottenham Hotspur have invested in securing the services of Roman Pavlyuchenko from Spartak Moscow. Pavlyuchenko was in Kiev with his squad ahead of a second leg versus Dynamo Kyiv when both sides agreed upon the deal.

He quickly flew back to the Russian capital in hopes of securing a visa that will allow him to arrive in North London. The deal is supposedly set to be finalized by Friday and could have Pavlyuchenko in a Lilywhite shirt come Sunday when they visit Chelsea. With the transfer fee said to be around $24 million the acquisition of the Russian striker could help the Spurs deal the unhappy Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United.

If the long awaited deal finally goes through it would free up money for another Russian forward that has been linked with the team for the last few months. Reports resurfaced yet again stating the signing of Pavlyuchenko could allow the team to rekindle their interest in Zenit St.Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin.

Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko were one of the better duos at the Euro this past summer linking them to teams such as Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City, and of course Tottenham. The Spurs pursued Arshavin only to have their offers turned down repeatedly by Zenit.

Last week, Zenit obtained the services of midfielder Danny Alves for a record fee of €30 million possibly in preparation of Arshavin’s departure. Sources have stated that the Arshavin rumors have been a nuisance to the team and they would drop their asking fee to further reduce the locker room problems.

The side faces Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup tomorrow night and all eyes will be on manger Dick Advocaat and his squad selection. If the duo is reunited in England, they would easily make Tottenham a much stronger side with their knack for peppering the goal with shots.

Tottenham are no strangers to Eastern European footballers having once had the services of Ukrainian Sergey Rebrov who scored 10 goals in 60 appearances. This would mark the second time in as many years that Spartak has sold their players off to the EPL as Manchester United bought Nemanja Vidić in 2006.

Pavlyuchenko will come to London in mid-season form but will not be allowed to participate in the clubs UEFA Cup campaign having played the first leg for Spartak. A fan favorite of the Red-White supporters Pavlyuchenko will be dearly missed as his team has struggled to keep up with the group leaders in Russian Premier League.

Having been eliminated out of the Champions League the Moscow side now has the UEFA Cup to look forward but judging by their lack of scoring that too will be short-lived.