By all reckoning Arsenal has made a final take it or leave it offer to Zenith. Reports are the offer is about £12m rising to £15m with bonuses.

It is very unusual for Arsenal negotiations to be aired in public like this, unfortunately it is in Zenith’s interest to do so. I can’t help wonder if this is all just a huge smokescreen.

Andrei Arshavin just about the only thing going on in Arsenal land

This Arshavin thing is reminiscent of the noises being made about Samir Nasri, the whole thing was very protracted and in the end it was a relief for gooners to finally close the deal. If this deal is concluded it will be a relief for us either way it goes.

The problem I have with this deal is the constant whining in the press of both Zenith and that guy Lachter, why can’t they just shut up and get on with it?

It is quite obvious what is going on with the agent, most of the information about the negotiations is coming from the Arshavin camp. Now I understand that Arshavin want to leave, but Zenith is not obliged to sell him. We realise that threats of going on strike is not serious as it will hurt the player more than the club, threats to buy off his contract is empty as it cannot happen before November by which time everyone would have moved on.

I would suggest that the agent reduce his fee in order to secure his client his desired move. Arsenal has already said that they are not going to improve their offer.

This is our final offer – we don’t go any further.

If we don’t get him, we don’t get him. There are other fish in the sea.

There is a limit. We made an offer and have now increased it a bit, but we don’t do exactly what everyone wants us to do necessarily.

Zenith are well of financially well off, and are in no need to force a deal through. They can afford to move the goal posts, only they can decide when the deal is good enough for them to accept. Let’s not forget that they’ve already spent €30m on a replacement for Arshavin, selling him for £12m is not good business.

The only party that will lose if a deal is not made is Arshavin himself. He won’t lose financially ofcourse, but in term of his career aspirations he’d have to wait at least till the summer to get away from St. Petersburg. Then again Manchester City is throwing money around, maybe they can strike a deal with Zenith St. Petersburg.

Anyway enough of that, in more encouraging news Eduardo completed a full 90 minutes with the reserves last night. To me he looked a little bit off the pace in the first half, but he did improve in as the game went on.

Eduardo had the ball in the back of the net but it was ruled offside, all in all everyone associated with the club should be very happy that the crozillian completed the game unscathed.

The game ended in a 2 – 2 draw and once again it showed why gooners are excited about the boy Wilshere. I would recommend anyone with access to Arsenal TV online to look at the highlights of the match Wilshere is a real gem.

Thanks for reading, please make your views known in the comment section.