Arshavin Signing For Arsenal, Rosicky Back in Training

Hello all. It's 1 am here which means 6 am in London but I've only just checked the news and seen that Zenit St Petersburg and Arsenal have agreed a fee for Andrei Arshavin. Zenit officials confirmed that an agreement had been reached on a transfer fee and all that remains is working out personal terms.

"The fundamental understanding over the transfer of the player is achieved between the clubs," read the statement. "At the moment the basic obstacle in realisation of the transaction is Andrei Arshavin's personal requirements."

So there is no word on what the agreed fee is, but it does seem as if the deal will be done very shortly. The good news from all this, besides the fact that we're getting a player who could help us hopefully score more goals, is the news that Arsenal are still actually capable of signing players! It looked for a while as if this would go the same way as the Xabi Alonso deal, arguing over a couple of million and eventually getting no deal done at all. Thankfully though everything should be worked out with Arshavin very soon and he should be an Arsenal player in the next few days. He's certainly been begging to come so it shouldn't be so hard to agree to personal terms.

"The player will travel to London this week to finalise terms, even though Gunners boss Arsene Wenger entertained Arshavin at Arsenal's training ground before Christmas, when much of the detail was agreed." - The Herald Sun

While Arshavin wasn't exactly the signing a lot of us had hoped for, he will help the squad, especially while Cesc is out. It won't help our central midfield or our defense, but you can't win without scoring goals and that is what he can certainly help with.

In other news, there are reports unconfirmed by the club that Tomas Rosicky is back in training, which is the first time in months. If he gets back and we get the Arshavin deal done we'll have a plethora of similar players to play on the left side of midfield. I think Nasri or Arshy will play in the middle though while Cesc is out and maybe another one of em could play on the right until Theo is back and healthy.

And in other transfer news, Micah Richards, who was linked with us yesterday, says he is "flattered" by the interest in him from Arsenal.

"It's always flattering being linked with a club like Arsenal, and they have one of the best managers in the world in Arsene Wenger."

As I said, I think Richards would be a perfect signing for us. He hasn't been outstanding this year, but with the turmoil going on at Manchester City it isn't a surprise really. He could be a great defender for us for years to come, and I'd love to see us get that done.

I'll get back to you guys in the morning if there is any more news on the Arshy deal. For now, take solace in the fact that he will almost certainly be an Arsenal player in the next few days.

Cheers. Hopefully we'll be seeing pictures like this one soon. Yeah I'm terrible at photo editing.