₤20 Million Andrei Arshavin: Worth Havin?

As suggested by many for some time now, Arsenal just do not seem to have the money to compete with other big spending clubs around the world. While Man City are throwing ₤100 million at AC Milan (which I find quite humiliating for the Italian club, anyways), the Gunners are having problems raising an extra ₤10 million for the one player that Wenger deem 'special' enough to bring into this highly talented squad.

I have to highlight the fact that I am not complaining, having been a fan for 12 years now and I have never felt any shame in being a gooner, we might not buy the biggest stars, but we produce them. I love the fact that we don't need to go down the foreign ownership route in order to compete in this league, and yet play the best football in the UK (although we have been off the mark in the last few games) and are loved by fans across the globe by doing so.

I would love to see us improve on that however, to really challenge for the league title like we did last season. Every Arsenal fan will want to see Arsenal win. We were very close last season, yes, but this season, a series of unfortunate events led to us slipping to fifth place, three points behind Aston Villa, and the champions league spot seems to be getting harder and harder to reach every passing day.

Injuries to key players such as Fabregas (just promoted captain and was finding his form), Walcott (was enjoying the best form of this career so far), Rosicky (our most experienced midfielder and a goal threat from midfield) and Eduardo (the best finisher at the club) have hurted us.

Also, constant disturbance from changes around the boardroom, rumoured poor dressing room atmosphere, Gallas's public outburst etc etc. are also key reasons for our disappointments. Agian, I am not moaning, but it would really be a disaster if we do not get into the CL...

In terms of the defence, early season's instability saw us droping important points, espeically at home. Djourou is doing quite well at the moment actually, he has a good leap and good built. The fact that we have been winning 1-0 obviously means we are improving in that sense. Also Wenger stated at the start of the transfer window that he will not strengthen defensively, so we can all expect to see the same old faces at the back.

The team is lacking creativity, however, there is no doubt about that. The past few games saw us creating very little and we had to be grinding out results time and again.

Well, it does show resilience and character, which are also key for delivering us the first title since 2004, however, with Walcott out for another month, Cesc for two more months at least, and Rosicky probably not being able to find form until next season perhaps, we definitely lack a lot in this department, espeically without Hleb now (who I actually think is a player as creative as Cesc).

Bringing in Arshavin is just common sense, whether we will or not remains to be seen. He will surely add flair and creativity to the team, a few goals as well. He will also install belief in the squad, and in the fans too, since spending large money on a big player should show Wenger's ambition to fight for the title.

Unfortunately, we tend to be stuggling with the negotiations at the moment. Whilst Zenit are looking for a ₤20 million transfer fee, the Gunners seem reluctant to go further than the ₤10 million region.

My opinion is, ₤15 million is the max we should pay for this player. Not because I don't believe he is good, because I think he is an awesome player, but to spend ₤20 million for a short term target seems quite risky for a club which who are still paying off heavy debts.

The short term target is obviously to get into the CL for next season, which will very much bring back the money we spent on him. He is 27, however, relatively young in the footballing world, but quite 'old' in the Arsenal world! He can perhaps give five more seasons at the top level.

The long term target of the club is obviously to see the youngsters we invested in to blossom; e.g. Walcott, Denilson, Nasri, Ramsey, Wilshere etc. In terms of creative players in the midfield, we have Fabregas, Rosicky and the above five. There are seven players here, if we do bring in Arshavin, it will make that eight, just how are they going to share playing time?

How long is it going to take him to adapt? Six months? By then, all our players (touch wood) should have recovered, which player should we be sacrificing in our first team? Walcott or Nasri on the wing? Rosicky? We must play a defensive minded player in the middle, and I doubt Arshavin will replace Cesc in any case.

I am not saying we shouldn't buy him, in fact, I am just trying to warn fans not to get over depressed if we fail to land him in the end. Where we might blame Wenger in not spending more to get him etc. He has his reasons, I would love to see him in the team, but if his arrival disturbs the developments of Nasri and Walcott, Wilshere, and Ramsey, who all in my opinion will become world class, then ₤20 million might really not be worth it at all.

Again, I would love to see him here, really, but the fee has got to be reasonable, I am sure Wenger knows this too.