MOSCOW, June 22 (Itar-Tass) —— The prospects for forward of Arsenal London Andrei Arshavin to play for Zenit St. Petersburg are quite vague.
After the unsuccessful performance of the Russian national team at the European Football Championship they came under the shower of criticism. Captain of the Russian team Andrei Arshavin became the main target of critical remarks. After a scandalous video, which broke all the records for the number of views in the Internet, when the footballer stated that “if we did not justify your expectations, this is your problems,” already officials voiced their indignation.
Leader of the A Just Russia faction in the State Duma Sergei Mironov compared Arshavin’s behaviour with the conduct of the authorities, which sometimes refuse to answer to the Russians, as the football player refused to answer to the fans.
Amid a wave of indignation rolling over all Russia to Arshavin’s notorious statement, a statement by Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Board Valery Golubev became highly publicized, as the latter suggested expel Andrei Arshavin from the country for his unpatriotic statements. Since Gazprom is the general sponsor of Zenit, the statement of the Gazprom top management questions the prospects for the 31-year-old forward to continue his football career in Zenit.
A scandalous situation, which focused already not on the whole team, but on its captain, who became a scapegoat, made Arshavin give explanations. The footballer gave apologizes for the unsuccessful result. But not the football, but Arshavin’s statement at the Bristol Hotel in Warsaw after a match with Greece became the subject of heated debates. “In that video I addressed my words to a concrete person in a concrete situation. This had nothing in common with a large number of people and fans in all Russia,” Arshavin responded. However, it will be already hard to reclaim the fault, as the statements of Russian footballers, particularly after unwilled defeats, are taken in a very critical way and just try now to make the public believe in the excuses of the captain of the national team.
Now Arshavin goes on vacations, but his future sport career is unclear. It is only clear that he will not play for Arsenal any longer. British media reported that Arsenal put him for transfer with the initial price of ten million euros. After that the football community expects a reply from the Zenit leadership, which did not state about their decision yet. Meanwhile, an unnamed Zenit representative told Itar-Tass that Zenit does not eye the extension of rent or purchase of Arshavin from Arsenal.