Premier League: Russians Raid England on Last Day of Transfer Window

Russian sides Zenit St Petersburg and Anzhi Makhachkala have swooped in on the last day of the Russian transfer window, with Andrei Arshavin moving from Arsenal to Zenit on loan for the remainder of the season and Chris Samba signing for Anzhi.

Arshavin has rejoined the club from which he left in January 2009 to sign for Arsenal, Zenit St Petersburg, on loan, with his current contract set to expire next year. The Russian hasn't featured much for the Gunners this season with 11 of his 19 appearances coming from the bench and only hitting the back of the net once.

The Russian captain has fell out of favour with Arsenal fans and manager Arsene Wenger, and we are yet to see the form this season which he once displayed in the eight-goal thriller with Liverpool in 2009, in which he scored all four of Arsenals goals, and the emergence Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has not helped his ordeal either.

Chris Samba who left Hertha Berlin in 2007 for Blackburn, and who has not played for them since handing in a transfer request at the start of the new year, has completed his eagerly anticipated move to the Wealthy Russian side Anzhi. The Russian club has become the new Man City of the league after their new takeover by Suleyman Kerimov, a Russian businessman whose net worth is $7.8 billion.

Chris Samba is only just one addition to the ever-growing list of superstars that have joined Anzhi. Players such as Roberto Carlos, ex-Chelsea left-back Yuri Zhirkov and former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan talisman Samuel Etoo, and to top it all off the man in charge is Guus Hiddink. This is now the 13th club the Dutchman has been manager of.

Samba was regularly captain and had become a key player for Blackburn over the years, so this move is going to leave a gaping whole in the defensive side of The Riversiders. Anzhi currently reside in seventh place in the league, and Samba's first appearance for them could come as early as the 5 March.