Arsenal Transfer News: Moving Andrey Arshavin Would Be Best Move for Gunners

Arsene Wenger still has a lot of work to do in order to get Arsenal back among the English Premier League elites, but one of the best moves that he can make during this transfer period would be to unload Andrey Arshavin. 

While there is no deal imminent, nor are there offers coming in for Arshavin at the moment, Bill Mills of Mirror Football is reporting that Arsenal would love to dump him. 

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Andrey Arshavin holds the key to Arsene Wenger’s spending in the January transfer window.

The 30-year-old Russian striker who cost £17.5 million when signed from Zenit St Petersburg three years ago is regarded as surplus to requirements at The Emirates.

He has failed to reproduce his best form on a consistent basis and manager Wenger would listen to offers, in the region of £12m, for the man who will captain Russia in Euro 2012 this summer.

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Arsenal had a tumultuous 2011 that saw the squad spend all kinds of money just to try and keep up with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool. 

But this squad is far from being back to that level, even with all of the moves it's made. Now what Wenger and Co. need to work on is trimming a lot of the excess fat. 

Arshavin has a reputation as someone that does not care. His performance drags down the rest of the squad because he gets lazy. The rest of the squad is left to pick up the slack for him, and it hurts morale. 

Whether or not Arsenal is able to get rid of Arshavin, the fact that it wants to is a positive sign. The future of this team is starting to look brighter thanks to some inspired play against Everton and Fulham, even though the Gunners lost that game. 

Wenger knows that he has to make a lot of bold moves in 2012. The best thing that he can do is find a squad to take Arshavin off his hands. Even if he has to drop the price to make it happen, so be it.

It will be worth it in the long run. 

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