Guardiola Hints Arshavin Signing

Guardiola during the official presentation of Keita as a Barcelona player gave some hint of the impending signing of Arshavin. He described the Russian as a quality player and emphasized that "In the end we’ll get what we want". Txiki Begiristain also gave positive hints regarding this saying that there could be three more signings. The three players who are linked with the club are Arshavin, Hleb and Adebayor. Barcelona expect some difficulty in signing of the Russian, as they expect Zenit to ask a bigger price than the initial 15 million euros. The bunch of English clubs which are linked with the striker also will not help Barcelona. Sport.es anyway reports of Zenit sporting director Konstantin Sarsaniya confirming that Barcelona has made an offer for the 27 year old Arshavin.

The club could be in for some trouble with the fate of the fantastic trio of Ronnie, Eto and Deco. Out of which Deco is the only person, for whom there is a genuine interest existing from Chelsea. he can be expected to sign for Chelsea for the coming days. But Eto's case is a bit complicated. Barcelona looks like have an informal agreement with Inter for the player, but Eto has emphasized that the club will not be the one who take the final decision. If this is complicated, Ronaldinho case is some thing like a whirlpool. A C Milan who was genuinely interested in him is not ready to match the price Barcelona is asking. Manchester City is ready to match the price, but Ronaldinho may not be interested for that move. Goal.com reports a story in which it is stated that Guardiola might be interested in having Ronaldinho in the squad. How much Goal.com can be trusted, is a question? Whatever if Ronnie stays participation of Ronaldinho in Olympics is going to be a big problem for the club. As in the case of Messi, Guardiola has insisted that Ronaldinho skips the National duty. As far as I am concerned, Guardiola does not have the moral authority to ask such a thing. Messi should represent Argentina in Olympics, what will Guardiola do - fire him from the team, he must be kidding. The worst what Guardiola could do is relegate him to the bench, but then Messi can use the Fifa clause to get out of the contract. Come on Messi, Show some character, your country reckons you!

Arshavin Rumours Gets Stronger

As I wrote in my last post Arshavin - Today's Hot Dish there was no official bid for Arshavin from the Club. But everything might be in for a change. Sport.es has reported that Barcelona after reinforcing their defense and midfield has made the signing of Adebayor and Arshavin as the highest priority. It also reported that Josep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain have agreed on this and are waiting for the Euro to complete before making the official bid for the Russian. The report suggests that Barcelona was aware of this Russian sensation before the Euro; especially Rijkaard was reported to be interested in him. The two reasons why they never made an official approach were due to the fact that his experience outside Russia was minimal and he used to play in a position occupied by Messi. The Euro campaign has dispelled both these problems, with Arshavin emerging as a player who can play in a variety of position. Arshavin is reported to have approached by seven major clubs in Europe but is expected to prefer Barcelona over others. More Over Barcelona board is interested to move in for Arshavin before the Vote of No Confidence against Laporta. This move would give Laporta the confidence to easily overcome the vote.

The reports of a Barcelona bid for Arshavin excite me, but the same cannot be said for Adebayor. I don't believe that he is the one striker we are looking at, may be then I am wrong. Whatever the club expected to endure a long negotiation with Arsenal in order to strike a deal for the tall striker. All the Barcelona fan blogs and forums are dominated by the call for not signing the striker, everybody fears a repeat of the Henry signing here. With Arshavin coming into the picture, Barcelona might be ready to drop the Hleb bid if Arsenal insist on the insame amount. But there are more troubles for Pep and the board to ponder. They still have not found a club for Eto. It is clear that he features no where in Pep's scheme of things. Barcelona is desperate to find a club for him and the latest one interested is Marseille, but I don't think Eto will jump in to that deal. Another big trouble for the club would be dealing with Ronaldinho. He is reportedly unhappy with the fact that Pep doesn't seem him as necessary. He has demanded answers when he return back from holidays.

Arshavin - Today's Hot Dish

Ok, there is no rumour yet about an official Barcelona bid for this Russian striker; but all the Barcelona fan blogs, forums are dictated by the 5 feet 8 inch Russian. All things are discussed - where should he play, should Guardiola change the system, is he that good etc. After the Sweden- Russia match, the only big club which was interested in making bid for him was Arsenal (apart from Everton and Manchester City). But now after his destruction of Holland - Milan, Chelsea all are interested. Nobody is making a decisive approach because of his stated affection to Barcelona. His affection started with the club at the times of the great Brazilian Romario. It was the former Russian Football Federation president Vitaly Mutke who dragged Barcelona into the plot when he stated that the two clubs which are close to Arshavin's heart are Zenit and Barcelona. Barcelona fans might be thanking Vitaly Mutke for bringing the club into the race to sign the talented Russian. Arsenal manager Wenger along with Milan's Ancelotti have openly praised the 27 year old. He might have bloomed a bit late but have taken the world by storm with his performance in Euro. Barcelona maintains a great chance to sign him even though there could be some possible trouble with his signing. The biggest will be where he will be fit in, he is a natural winger and can play at the place of Ronaldinho - but it is proven that he does wonders in that floating strikers role. Second is the price, he might come cheap but will be very expensive to be kept in the team. Zenit pays some 60,000 pounds per week and some bonuses are also involved, add to this the fact that in Russia football players are taxed less. But thinking of a possibility of seeing him play along with Messi excites me. Anyway there is a rumour doing the rounds that Abrahmovich has asked Scolari to prefer Arshavin ahead of Deco. Who ever signs him has to be careful in dealing with him, he has a history of being a bit wayward. He lost the Russian captaincy for an alleged assault on an Andorran player and it is said he lost the captaincy of Zenit because he partied till the morning (sounds similar to Ronnie!). But there is still hope, he has shown a tendency to fall in line when pulled up - this was demonstrated by both Dick Advocaat and Guus Hiddink.

Roman Anatolevich Pavlyuchenko, was the first Russian to be linked with Barcelona in this summer window. Eventhough Arshavin has taken all the news spot, the rumour regarding Pavlyuchenko simply refuse to die. He could form the leathal partnership with Ashravin at Barcelona. And one more thing he will come much cheaper. It looks like Barcelona can count on the service of maybe Ronaldinho and Eto next season. Atleats in Ronaldinho's case, it looks rather unlikely that he will find a club to suit him. Last week when the press questioned him about the transfer, he replied that his current contract will run till 2010. Both these players are pretty unhappy with the way Guardiola has treated them, they are basically not sure whether they are in the scheme of things for next season. This may be good, these two guys should be fired up to prove the world that they are no push over and regain their places back.