Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has refused to rule out a move to Arsenal next year.
The 29-year-old, who Spurs paid £14 million for in September 2008, has been linked with a January move away from the club in recent weeks, with QPR and Fulham believed to be keen on the Russian international.
But according to Metro, Arsenal is another possible destination for the forward.
If by any chance he did join the Gunners in January, how would the fans react? As it would be a highly contrevsial move to say the very least. One can only assume that it would not go down well with many Arsenal fans.
When asked about his future, Pavlyuchenko told Russian publication Sport Express:
‘I don’t believe I can fight my way into the Tottenham starting line-up.’
‘Players can feel what the manager thinks about them, and I know that the manager doesn’t count on me these days.’
‘Something must change. I must play in order not to Miss Euro 2012. You don’t get into the national squad on past achievements. I will be 30 in December, and it could be my last big tournament.’
These comments reportedly came after Harry Redknapp admitted that the former Spartak Moscow striker is unhappy at being left out of the starting line-up.
Pavlyuchenko then hinted that he hasn’t ruled out a move to Arsene Wenger’s side:
‘I don’t know whether the club will execute that option [to sell me].’
‘But a good offer would definitely be considered.’
‘It would be silly of me to hide that I find life in London much better.’
Well, I guess it’s safe to say that moving to your clubs rivals these days is just like an ordinary transfer, though this never does go down well with both sets of fans.
Pavlyuchenko, like his Russian team-mate Arshavin, has lost a bit of his spark and is almost 30 – it’s quite hard to see him getting his mojo back, but he seems motivated to.
In my opinion, he would be a good buy; he’s good in the air, can shoot from outside the area and reads the game very well. Pavlyuchenko and Arshavin have been the driving force of the Russian national side for sometime now, and maybe if we got him he could deliver for us as well and possibly wake up his fellow countryman in the process.
Of course there will be a handful of fans saying this would be a bad decision by Arsenal if they went ahead and bought the Russian. But he is still a world class player, despite his recent dip in form. I believe he can still give us something, that is, if he can break into the squad, as the pecking order here ‘[Arsenal] for top man is occupied by Dutchman Robin van Persie. However, surely there would be a battle between Marouane Chamakh and Roman Pavlyuchenko for that striker role when Van Persie is rested.
Depending on how much Spurs release him for, I do have to say that they are other options out there, but we all know that if Pavlyuchenko comes at a low price then we could see the Russian switch from white and blue to red and white in January.
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