The new Tsar of Russia Andrei Arshavin. This is the player that George is going to use to replace Ribery's place after much deliberation!

Although Arshavin has not yet been crowned with the title of Tsar by the media and fans, and his fame in Russia is not as good as that of Serchev and Titov, who became famous earlier, and his ability is far from the peak, he is indeed the best choice that George can find at this time!

Although George has good candidates for Malouda, Figo and Luis Garcia in addition to Arshavin, these are either limited ceilings compared to the Tsar (Malouda, Garcia), past their prime and demanding playing time (Figo), or too young to appear in the Premier League too early (David Silva, Mata, Gareth). Coupled with the fact that first-class wingers such as Gyuli, Camoranesi and Duff are now basically a carrot and a pit, they are highly regarded in their respective teams, and George will not consider joining Tottenham if he is unwilling to break the team's existing salary structure. Therefore, Arshavin, who can provide a certain amount of instant combat power and has high potential, is naturally the best candidate!

The Zenit club replied quickly, and after receiving Tottenham's offer of five million euros for Arshavin, they only considered it for two days before making a decision, agreeing that Tottenham would send someone to negotiate with Arshavin for personal treatment!

Although Russia's current domestic economic situation and living standards are indeed much better than in the 90s of the last century, not many of Russia's wealthy people are not interested in investing in football at this time, and they do not have the idea of spending a lot of money on it. Therefore, at this time, there are still many Russian players who will choose to pan for gold in foreign leagues for a high salary after making a name for themselves (such as Smertin and Sychev).

The most convincing example is that in George's previous life, Dalian Shide almost managed to loan Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko in 06. Although the two deals were ultimately put on hold due to the lack of agreement between the two clubs on loan fees, the dismal state of Russian football during this period and Arshavin's position at Zenit at this time are also evident. Therefore, Tottenham's difficulty in bringing in Arshavin from Zenit is far less difficult than it was when Arsenal poached the top tsar after the European Championship in the previous life!

What George didn't expect was that before Paratic, who was in charge of the negotiations, left for St. Petersburg, Arshavin and his agent took the initiative to deliver the goods to London and personally went to London to negotiate a contract with Tottenham!

The world is really magical, I didn't expect that in this fighting nation famous for its tall people and horses, there would be a guy like Arshavin who seriously did not match their painting style. This was what George really thought when he first saw Arshavin.

Although in the official information given by the Zenit club and the Russian Football Federation, Arshavin's height is 1.72 meters, but after George's visual inspection, it was concluded that this product must have lied about his height: "This height is at most 1.67 meters, and the guys from Zenit are the height that made him wear heightened shoes, right?!"

Of course, this is just George's inner complaint, and he does not disdain Arshavin because of this. After all, on the football field, height doesn't really mean anything - Maradona's height is only 1.65 meters, who dares to say that the football king is not good?

Although Arshavin's talent is not as outstanding as Maradona's, it can be seen that his potential is also quite outstanding when he represented Zenit in the first team of the Russian top league at the age of 19 and established himself in the main position in the second year, and completed his national team debut at the age of 21.

However, this is a good starting point and it has not been smooth sailing for Arshavin's subsequent career, because the Russian national team at this time is still firmly controlled by "Moscow" teams (i.e. Lokomotiv Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, etc.). The likes of Sergiov, Titov, Smertin and Akinfeev who have emerged from these clubs are so powerful that they can influence the manager's line-up to a large extent. Although Arshavin has a good football talent, he was born in St. Petersburg and is naturally difficult to be reused by the head coach in the national team without enough external support!

Not to mention, there is another Korzhakov in the Zenit team who is on the same level as him, but is a year younger than him. As a result, Arshavin, who is short in stature and lacks visual impact in his style of play, and his ability and awareness have not yet fully matured, is only considered by the Zenit club to be a young player with good skills at this time, and he does not get much attention at all!

As for his current situation, Arshavin can be said to be clear in his heart. He knows that if he wants to get ahead and achieve his ambitions and become the number one star of Russian football, then Tottenham's unsolicited offer will most likely be the best and only chance of his entire career!

Playing for a team that has just won the Champions League, even just as part of a rotating squad, is enough to get him more value in the national team!

Compared to most Russian players, Arshavin is an outlier in many ways. For example, when it comes to playing abroad, Arshavin is more proactive than his compatriots and is more willing to accept the baptism of high-level football. Therefore, when many Russian players were frightened by the experiences of Sychov and Igor Dobrovolsky and others, they would rather play at home and get a reasonable salary, and never go abroad unless there is a high salary temptation, the ambitious Arshavin is already ready to fight overseas and change his fate!

In addition, Arshavin is not as withdrawn as other Russian players, almost never communicating with his teammates, but actively integrating into the team, which allows him to adapt to the new environment faster and better!

In George's view, the reason why Arshavin fell silent after a short period of highlights in his previous life was more because Nasri's sudden emergence squeezed his activity space and playing time, as well as the decline in his physical fitness as he got older. And now Arshavin is only twenty-four years old, and he is still very malleable. After coming to the White Hart Lane stadium, under the careful training of the Tottenham laboratory and coaching staff, the "Tsar" can climb to higher heights than in his previous life!

Because the Zenit club has nodded and agreed to release him, and Arshavin himself is also very interested in going abroad, and even took the initiative to go to London to negotiate a contract with Tottenham after getting the news, so the contract negotiation between the two sides can only be described as a rapid progress - in just half a day, Arshavin, who is extremely eager to play in the Premier League, accepted the conditions offered by Tottenham and signed his name on a five-year contract with an annual salary of 1.5 million euros!

Next, as long as Zenit and Tottenham report the deal to the Russian Football Federation and the FA respectively, and at the same time Arshavin passes the medical examination organized by the Tottenham laboratory, then the future Russian czar will officially become a member of Tottenham Hotspur!

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