No surprise here then. Wenger's required 'spark' will cost them £20M or so, but like most transfers of this ilk, clubs never pay the full whack upfront. £14M, the rest in clauses dependent on performances and silverware. Deal has yet to be concluded, but more than likely to be done and dusted within 10 days. At least this means we won't be witnessing any more embarrassing whoring of the player.

But for £5M more we could have had him rather than JD, considering we lack a forward player of his ability. But then again, we could have had him in the summer had we meet Zenit's valuation then. No problem do we have spunking £15M or so on Bent and the same more or less on Bentley, but a genuine world-class player for a few extra shillings? No sir. Not us.

Don't fret though. He's over-rated innit. Will probably flop. A Woolwich Rebrov (Reyes) if I've ever seen one.

Sigh.

UPDATE:

From Gutter Boy (GG.co.uk) who claims to be ITK about this one:

It'll take 20m Euros (c.£18.5m) all up front immediately (no installments) to match what we've agreed with Zenit. Our agreement has to be matched or exceeded by 16 January, otherwise it automatically kicks in (hence Lachter's desperation to whore him out at the moment). If someone matches it it'll be up to the player to decide. We can of course enter into a bidding war as Zenit will sell to the highest bidders irrespective of Arshavin's wishes.

I guess that explains SSN stating that all will be done within 10 days (which will be the 16th Jan). Hand's up if you think Arsenal will win this much like they did with Petit? When we win, we get Zokora. When they win, they get the likes of Bergkamp and we end up with the Armstrong's of this world. No Comolli, yet somehow nothing looks like changing.

I'm also uncertain on the ITK info being, well you know, true. And if it's not then Arsenal are in for the player all on their own, and the only loser will be Zenit, who probably won't get anywhere near the amount offered to them in the summer by us.