Arsenal Were Forced to Pay TWICE the Price for Andrey Arshavin Because of Vladimir Putin

Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2016 by 90min.com

A new book has revealed that Arsenal were forced to pay double the amount for Russian star Andrey Arshavin when they bought him from Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2009, per the Independent.

Arshavin drew Arsene Wenger's attention with his Euro 2008 exploits, but the French manager had to go through hell to complete a deal for the attacker, and negotiations lasted three months, with the player being signed a whole 24 hours after the official January transfer deadline day.

Wenger isn't particularly fond of paying top dollar for talent, but in this case, he was made to go way over his budget and fork out £15m as Russian president Vladimir Putin held a lot of influence in the matter.

Zenit happens to be Putin's boyhood club, and is run by state-owned energy company Gazprom, according to the book, an autobiography written by football agent John Smith.

Arsenal only made a breakthrough when Uzbekistan billionaire and 30 per cent Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov was asked to use his Russian connections to secure the transfer.

"Arsene was involved in every step," Smith claims in the book named 'The Deal'.

"Every conversation with Arsenal was based around how Arsene was feeling and things he thought they could do to bridge the gap.

"Arsene was totally in control on that environment."

The agent also revealed that Usmanov had to operate clandestinely and figures in Arsenal's hierarchy were unaware of his dealings, as they believed that a straight and simple deal, with no pulled strings, would be best.

Ken Friar, who was managing director at Arsenal at the time, was opposed to any secret affairs, but Smith was able to do the dirty work needed to get Arshavin to the Emirates.

"Technically, we might not have been given permission [to speak to Arshavin]," Smith continued.

"But that's my job for a club and player at any given time. I am the bridge that the club can't cross.

"In most cases of employment exchanges in any walk of life, the potential employee and employer have had some sort of prior connection.

"There has to be a person ready to break the conventional ethical boundary of not pinching other people's staff and actually make contact. So we do sometimes facilitate that in football."