Arsenal will land Andrei Arshavin if they can overcome the hurdle of the "unacceptable" fee demanded by Zenit St Petersburg, says his agent.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has made the 27-year-old his number one target, but the Premier League club will not be held to ransom.
It had been reported the two parties were close to an agreement, with Arsenal understood to have returned with an improved £12million offer which also includes add-ons, while Zenit coach Dick Advocaat claimed a move was indeed imminent.
An Arsenal delegation is said to have travelled to St Petersburg in an attempt thrash out the final details of what has become a protracted saga.
However, the Russians - who made it to the Champions League for the first time this season - are demanding a hefty cash down-payment closer to £20million.
Arshavin's representative Dennis Lachter suggested any talk of a done deal was premature.
"We still have time, but unfortunately at the moment there is nothing to say about quick movement or new developments," Lachter told sports news website sport.co.uk.
"Definitely money is still the sticking point. I think Zenit is still asking for an unacceptable amount of money, they are still playing very tough."
Whether or not Arsenal will meet the demands of the Russians and break their £13million transfer record remains to be seen - with Wenger playing things cool at the end of last week, suggesting the time it would take for Arshavin to adapt to the English game could well come into play when he considered any deal.


ultimathule9 : "...I think that our main problem is discipline. If we lose the ball in the final third, our defending and pressuring is lazy. And Chelsea's second goal was a good example of that. Arshavin loses the ball. And Lampard gets i..." view full comment
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Your Comments
arseven (Arsenal fan)
"Pull out at the 11th hour and let the Russians coma back! Strictly speaking he is too old for that kind of money and strictly speaking we do have ramsey in the reserve!"
didnotseeit (Arsenal fan)
"mikejones0502 (Manchester United fan), have you not looked at the financial disclosures of the past three years? Clearly you haven't otherwise you would have known that Arsenal are the richest chub in the WORLD on their own financial devices, their net profits have exceeded Man.Ure for the past three years, your club is owner by the BANKS that the odd looking Americans that bought them used for the purchase, Arsenals shareholders combined are worth three times as much as the Russian at Chelsea so go back to your job cleaning toilets and post your comments on the walls there. "
un_a_zero_pour (Arsenal fan)
"Is he a great player? Yes. Is he worth more than 12 mil.? Probably. Should Arsenal splash the cash on him? No.
Lets forget for a few moments that Arsenal are not Chelsea nor Man. City. He is coming to PL without any experience, outside Russia. He is 27 and he is not eligible for CL. Usually I am critical about Arsenals transfer policy but I will agree with Wenger and co. this time. After all you don¿t have to look around PL to find players not being capable to adapt. Pavlyuchenko?
And probably, the best player EVER from Eastern Europe Andriy Shevchenko.
Take all that in consideration and you will realise that Arshawin is probably not worth the risk. Do Arsenal need to buy new players? Yes. Should Arsenal gamble in time when globe is in crisis? NO
"
tomokeke (Arsenal fan)
"mikejones0502 (Manchester united fan) please shut up!!"
mikejones0502 (Manchester United fan)
"Decent player, bottom line ARSENAL CANT AFFORD HIM....Im sick of Arsenal fans going on about how much money wegner HASNT SPENT !! Who Cares?? If i was an Arsenal fan i would be sick of missing out on the top players. Over the last few years Chelsea have overtaken you, now Liverpool, this season Villa, who next year?? Everton? SPURS? Its not a competition to 'get the best bargain player' - Its about winning trophies .....and your boys have none lately.....The kids can be as bright and as great as u like, your out of league race, out of carling cup (with your kids by the way), you need 4-5 Solid experienced CLASS players. the time has come for Wenger to stop looking for hidden gems and start bringing in a few established class players...anyone agree??disagree??"
dazza n17 (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"guys this is old news to all spurs fans zenit did this in the summer constantley moving the goal posts ,comolli said at the time that to do a deal you have to deal with 9 or 10 people who all have a financial interest in arsharvin. and gasprom who own zenit dont need any money as they are by far the richest company in russia. so they can play silly buggers till the cows come home,botom line is zenit are miffed that he wants to leave and can afford to mess him about. no player power in russia"
ish85 (Arsenal fan)
"this is a crazi bunch of clowns tryna get rich.they know city have come into it and i realli dont care anymore should he go to them"
persianboy (Arsenal fan)
"what a hell...?they have been talking about money since arsenal showed intrest seems they are under comiunism!!god bless you crazy guys!
let him stay at his rabbish team!this russians are just drinking wine or whatever. they do not think at all!if he wants to join arsenal he must put his club under pressure but he is doing nothing to do that!finish this saga and rely on ramsey and nasri"
Lofty132 (Arsenal fan)
"Hopefully Man City will go on a cash fuelled rampage and buy Arshavin, so Wenger can buy players we really need, like a world class keeper, world class central defender and a no nonsense combative midfielder. We could raise some cash buy floggin bendtner and giving Vela his place in the squad, he's twice the footballer Nicklas is already!"
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