Andrei Arshavin Heading To Arsenal?

This might come as a surprise to most Arsenal fans, but it appears as if Arsene Wenger is chasing Russian star Andrei Arshavin. This has now been confirmed by Denis Lakhter, a Zenit Petersburg official.

Wenger, who voiced his concerns over Arshavin's fitness not so long ago, has intensified his interest and it appears as if Arsenal and Barcelona will do battle yet again, but only for a player from another club.

Lakhter told The Sun:

“Arsene Wenger is a cunning fox.

“In the morning he says Arshavin will play all the time at his club and during the day he says he doubts the capabilities of Andrei to play three games in a row at the highest level.

“But this is a tactic to fool the competition.

“He calls Andrei a Tsar and then tries to deny interest in the player.”

He has also stated in the same interview that Arsenal and Barça remain "the most active."

It is interesting to note that Barcelona are now a club trying to seal transfers all over the place as they feel that on July 6, Joan Laporta (the president) may well be voted out on a referendum of the club members which would impose a temporary moratorium (of around two months) on all transfer activity.

This means that Arsenal's potential transfer activity could very well be determined in the next three days.

Emmanuel Adebayor's situation still looks precarious but it looks as if he is going to stay after Arsenal have demanded a whopping £35 million from his suitors for his services. Alexander Hleb is also someone who might well end up staying because Arsenal are demanding £20 million from whoever is interested in him.

It looks like Wenger is ready to play hard-ball with whoever is interested in his players—and that is fantastic to see for any Arsenal fan.

It also appears as if the boss is now looking to use mind-games in order to sign his new target, but whether he will succeed in his pursuit is something that remains to be seen.