Arsene Wenger is pursuing the Zenit St. Petersburg striker with deadly intent notwithstanding his coy statements. To do that he has to cloud Arshavin’s mind by blurring Arsenal’s style with that of Barca (which remains Arshavin’s first choice). Having Cesc Fabregas team up with the Arshavin on display in this Euro should be a mouthwatering proposition for Arsenal this season.
So far La Liga has not paid much interest to Arshavin whose age appears to be a factor. The Spanish league loves to catch ’em young, watch them grow, unless you happen to be RVN or Thierry Henry, proven superstars. Barca is also shopping their surplus in Deco, Eto’o, and Ronaldinho, and some of the money in that trade will be used to woo Adebayor, also being pursued by Milan.
Here is how I see it. Arsenal’s attack stems from the midfield. Other than RVP, the rest of the strikers rely on clear supply lines. Man U’s distinct advantage lies in the fact that their strikers are more adept at creating goal scoring opportunities unlike Adebayor or Eduardo. I have seen Rooney and Tevez go deeper than Adebayor to nurture attacks. Rooney has honed his short passing skills to great effect. This is in part because Scholes and Giggs, in their waning moments, are not the crisp passers they once were and Anderson and Nani, their potential replacements, are still in the showboating phase of their development. Man U’s stutters in midfield are glossed over by their accomplished striker corps.
Arshavin does everything. He drops deep to fuel an attack with his efficient passes (54 passes completed out of 72 attempts), he uses his speed and ball skills to split the game wide, as his zigzagging run found Dmitri Torbinski for the second goal against Netherlands, and he has shown great opportunism, zipping between Andre Ooijer and Wilfred Bouma, for the third goal. At age 28, he is a late bloomer but with his UEFA exploits and now the Euro, he appears to be in a hurry to cement his legacy. He could be the right antidote for Arsenal’s now familiar late season swoon.