Advocaat afforded himself the luxury of leaving the coveted forward on the bench for the first half of Friday night's 2-1 UEFA Super Cup victory over Manchester United in Monaco.

But he denied his choice had anything to do with speculation linking Arshavin with a transfer to Spurs, and insists a deal between the clubs is a long way from being struck.

Advocaat revealed there is a six million euros (£.4.8million) shortfall to be made up by the London club before they meet Zenit's £18million asking price.

"I should perhaps also have to explain why other players were not playing," he said.

"You make a decision and that was that Dominguez played the first half and Arshavin the second. It's as simple as that."

"They (Tottenham) had several weeks of time to buy him and they did not offer 22 million like everybody has been writing but just 16 million.

"I think that Arshavin costs more than 16 million."