Who Do You Think You Are Kidding…?

<cue eerie music> You are now entering the transfer twilight zone, where fiction is presented as fact and the truth is stranger than the reality they present. Consider the story of Andrei, a lowly professional footballer in a Russian outpost. Be prepared to believe the unbelievable, ignore the unnatural and suspend belief in normality….

Which is just about how everyone ought to be feeling by now about the how shenanigans. A game of chicken is emerging, who is going to blink first is unclear but it, as Arseblogger noted this morning, seems to be as dead as the chicken that we ate for dinner last night.

Yet perhaps not. Using Daily Express stories as a source is notoriously dangerous when it comes to substantiating anything that bears even a passing semblance to the truth but some are willing to believe them, Zenit’s General Director, seemingly saying that a deal can still be done. Deadline’s for negotiations is apparently January 26th so that Arsenal can pop over the channel and sign someone else before the close of the window on February 2nd.

Arshavin’s agent is meanwhile acting like a 5-year old and threatening to throw his client’s toys of the rather large pram he inhabits with the threat of invoking Article 17 of FIFA’s statutes. The only snag is that the kicking and screaming will have to go on until November 2009 when Arshavin can take such a course of action. Which is about as hollow a threat as a footballer can issue in such situations.

There is little doubt that a high profile player is going to take up this option at some point. If my rather vague memory is not totally playing tricks on me, it took a few seasons for the Bosman ruling to really kick into action in this country, mainly because the clubs acted swiftly to issue new contracts for their star players but Bosman transfers have become part and parcel of football life. The so-called ‘Webster‘ moves will tread the same path at some point as well and we will deal with it, chastising Arsenal if anyone exercises that option from within, praising them for persuading a signing to do so in the same breath.

Various media-friendly Chairmen will no doubt be holding court bemoaning their lot when their stock is diminished by poachers, whilst aiding and abetting the odd moonlight flit themselves. There is little point in believing that the Gentlemen’s Agreement that is supposed to exist between the G-14 clubs will last for much longer, particularly since very few of the chairmen appear to be of that ilk. The old saying about them having the ‘morals of an alleycat‘ appears to be appropriate.

The other aspect of this that I struggle to understand is the willingness of some to believe that the club cannot go any higher than £12-£15m to sign the player. It is an inescapable fact that were Arsenal to pay the reported €20m that Zenit demanded in the summer, it would cost them an extra £4m due to the fluctuations in the £ / € exchange rate. Is Arshavin worth the £18m that fee would now cost? That is for Wenger to decide. He has his valuation, the Russians theirs.

The Arsenal Board know how much can be afforded but also have to weigh in with the future. It is not as simple as saying ‘we’re being lied to, we don’t have the cash‘. There may be cash today but if the economic conditions worsen as we are told they will, tomorrow’s funding may not be quite so good.

One thing is for certain. If the Board / Wenger decide not to be held to ransom, they should be applauded for protecting the club’s financial status. There are other players out there, no doubt already identified, who can play the role.

’til Tomorrow.