It has been a tiring and stressful few days for gooners around the world, and i can guarantee that nobody was more delighted than myself when the news broke. Here we have embedded THE first ever interview of Andrey as an Arsenal player.

[audio http://www.upload-mp3.com/pfiles/56840/ArshavinFirstInterview.mp3]

Its slightly quiet so turn your volume up, remember to turn it down after though, i made that mistake and now have a splitting headache. Great…

Andrey or Andrei however you want to spell it, will be a fantastic addition to this side. At first i was thinking we should be targeting a more defensive style player, i still do, but his arrival is a statement i think. Arsenal are still alive.

He will bring fantastic creativity to this team and he has already declared himself a Gooner which is sure to make him popular amongst us fans already, I’m pretty sure that as soon as the Arsenal board saw the people gathering around the Emirates and Highbury House last night they knew they HAD to get this deal through because if it didn’t work, people would really start turning against them.

As it turns out Gazidis, Friar and Wenger (who was involved at every step I’m told), have got the most fantastic deal for a player that is the sixth best in the world, we pushed Zenit into a corner, we called their bluff and we got it dead right. Yes, its more than turbulent for us fans but what a fantastic result we have.

At 27 Arshavin is set to approach his peak and whilst by his own admission he is not match fit he seems a player that works, is humble and wants to fight for the club and wants the fans trust, ‘trust in me, trust in Arsenal’.

Today he was called the ‘Russian Messi’, but whilst i believe in supporting your players you can’t levy too much expectation on their shoulders and we should give him his time for he and his family to adapt to their new country. I for one, just can’t wait to see him marauding down the wings, but where he is going to play will be an area up for debate. Will it effect Theo Walcott’s chances of getting starts? Will we play with a five man midfield? Where will our deepest lying midfielder be?

There is no doubt that Wenger will keep Denilson or Song in central midfield, we need a player like that there no arguments. People suggest we play Arshavin, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott across midfield but im sorry, that is suicide.

That is why this move could mean Theo Walcott is employed more as a striker from now on. Its far to early to be debating this, but you must admit, it really is a nice thing to be debating about!

In my view Arshavin traveling to England off his own back, hiring the private jet and paying for it himself signaled his desire to come and play for us, Zenit were truly despicable pimping him out to other clubs on Monday before the deadline and it really does show them up for the money grabbing, abusing, moral-less club they are. It can be pretty much written in stone that another English club will not be negotiating with them again in a hurry and players thinking of going there might think twice too now.

I learned of the deal just before it was announced, i was given a tip off but i delayed just those few important minutes, and by the time i had waited a few minutes and got myself a cup of tea, it was up on Arsenal.com.

I jumped with joy and covered myself in hot tea. I couldn’t care less, we have our man.

It seems that sky sports were expecting a deal two days ago going by this,

Note – the date reads Monday 2nd Feburary.

Sky Sports have hardly covered themselves in credibility with this ongoing transfer but credit where credit is due, they got there in the end and got us the important stories. I think we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Arsenal Supporters Trust who allayed many Gooners’ fears when Sky Sports News broke the story that Arshavin was on his way back to Russia.

I will not even start to indulge in the expletive ridden tirades i let rip when that happened.

Arsene Wenger has again spoken of how talented this man is and he admits he has been following his progress for a long time now,

“We are delighted to have signed Andrey Arshavin, he is a player I have admired for a long time. He is a versatile player with great experience, who will add real quality to our squad.Andrey is an exciting impact player with a huge amount of ability and has been an influential force with both Zenit St Petersburg and the Russian national team in recent seasons.”

I am informed that we have been tracking him for about three years now, he is somewhat of a late developer but as his game does not seem to be reliant on pace, he could be a brilliant player long into his thirties.

Wenger and Arshavin first met at Euro 2008, and as you will have probably have found out by listening to the upload of his exclusive interview Wenger was the key again in this deal. Players come to play under him, players are attracted by the proposition of playing for him. I was going to say it was a Hugh Hefner situation but it actually isn’t and it would inspire a raft of comments. Let him have the slags.

Right, enjoy the podcast/broadcast/interview whatver you want to call it.

Til Tomorrow – for the very last time maybe – Arshfans.

Its all over guys. Its official, we have one of the worlds best players:

“Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that Russian international midfielder, Andrey Arshavin has joined the Gunners from Zenit St. Petersburg on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee.”

Arshavin has said,

“Thank You, I’m Happy To Be In Arsenal.. It’s My Dream”

And in a plea to Arsenal fans;

“My Message To Arsenal Fans? Trust In Me, Trust In Arsenal”

We will Andrey, it takes seeing him in that picture to believe. Arsenal have not made a signing of this magnitude since Dennis Bergkamp, a fraction of his success at the club would be appreciated by Arsenal fans at the moment.

A fantastic deal for Arsenal, by god we sailed close to the wind but finally we have our man, he will get a great reception for sure when he walks out onto the pitch.

More sure to come soon.

“Yes, it’s true, the transfer is in doubt. There is a chance it will take us 2-3 days. The odds are 50/50. If the transfer is declared invalid, Arshavin will be returned to Zenit. We can’t rule this out. I don’t think that would be a severe ruling: both clubs had a lot of time to complete it during the window.”

Not sure on its reliability and MY gut feelings are that they are duff quotes.

Lets wait and see.

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1518 - SSN went live to the Emirates, there are 40 pages of the document to go through, explaining the long, long delay. Hopefully this is the only reason.

Fingers crossed.

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1618: THE QUOTES ARE FAKE. source. Thanks Gunnerblog my suspicions were confirmed.

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Arsenal are selling ‘Arshavin 23#’ shirts, as seen on SSN. Announcement rumoured for 7:30.

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