Andrei (Sergeyevich) Arshavin





Name: Andrei Arshavin
Club: Zenit St.Petersburg
Best Position: AMC (second striker)
Football Manager Value: 9.5million
Real Life Value: 20million
Age: 27
Date Of Birth: May 29, 1981
Place Of Birth: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Height: 1.72 m – 5ft7inches
Nationality: Russian
Languages: Russian
Reputation: Continental
Personality: Ambitious
Squad Status: Key player



Arshavin graduated from Smena football school. In 1999 and early 2000 he played for Zenit's feeder club, Zenit-2, in the Second Division.
He made his debut in 2000, against the might Bradford City in the intertoto cup. He played in various positions on the field, starting as a right midfielder, then as an attacking midfielder and finally adopted the second striker's role playing on a flank or behind a target man.

His brilliance in these positions took him to Russian footballer of the year in 2006.

In the 2007 Russian Premier League season Arshavin guided his Zenit St Petersburg side to the title, starting all 30 matches - scoring 10 goals and providing 11 assists along the way. It was the club's first league title since claiming the now defunct Soviet Top League in 1984. He also was a key player to Zenit's 2008 UEFA Cup triumph, as he ripped through Bayern Munich’s defence on the way to winning the trophy.

He caught the eye of many big teams when he outclassed the Dutch team in the quarterfinals of Euro2008. Since then, he has been linked with some of the world’s biggest clubs, such as Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea.



Arshavin is an interesting player on Football manager, although he is not often tracked by the biggest clubs, he is a superb player to have in the team. He is usually interested in joining any top flight club in the major European countries (England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France) He can normally be bought for around £9million ( €11mill) or cheaper depending on your negotiating skills , and he will only ask for around £25,000 (€31,000)per week, this means, when you compare his performance to his price, he is one of the best players on the game. But you will have to be quick in trying to get him, as many other clubs also go in for him after a few days of starting your game.

His stats are very inconsistent as they go from brilliant to terrible





Attacking Abilities – Dribbling, Finishing, First Touch, Passing
Footballing brain –Technique, Creativity, Decisions, Flair, Off the Ball
Pace and agility


Aerial ability – Heading, Jumping
Defensive Abilities – Marking, Tackling
Fitness – Strength, Natural Fitness
Throwings

As you can see, Arshavin has much more strengths than weaknesses which is only a positive. However, his lack of fitness means he may struggle late on in games, and may not be able to stay fully fit through a whole season. This obviously means he could be best as an impact player, rather than one who will keep going through the whole game.



I try to buy him on every game, as he always puts in great performances and never disappoints. For lower premiership clubs such as Wigan, Sunderland, Fulham, and others, he will be the star of the team, and create goal after goal, while scoring many as well. The best he has ever done under my management is scoring 16 and assisting 24. This was when I played him as a playmaker, just behind the front two, with an arrow attacking forward. As shown here:



As I have already explained, he plays best just behind a front 1 or 2 with an arrow going forward. If he is going to play behind a single striker, make this stiker a target man that can head the ball, as this will allow Arshavin to run in behind the defenders, to get the flick on.



Arshavin is a great player for any team. Although he may be used more as a squad player for the biggest teams, he can certainly shine in any team. The fact that he is willing to move to smaller top flight teams on Football Manager 08, means he is one of the players of the game. If you are to get him, you will not be disappointed, and at £9million, he can be the best buy of the game.