Andrei Arshavin Biography and Wallpapers

Andrei Arshavin Biography

27 year old attacking Russian midfielder Andrei Arshavin (Андрей Сергеевич Аршавин) has been described by Guus Hiddink, manager of the Russian national team, as “the most intelligent player I have ever worked with”.

Arshavin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg again) on 29th May 1981. He was Russian footballer of the year in 2006.

He was a player for his home town club Zenit St Petersburg between 2000 and 2009 and is a national hero in Russia (232 appearances - 51 goals) but he mde it known that he wanted to play for a big European club. After a very protracted transfer saga worthy of the great Lev Tolstoy himself, allegedly involving just about every club in Europe, including Newcastle and Kevin Keegan, the transfer negotiations went right down to the wire and apparently were only agreed in the last hour before the transfer window closed, he has now signed for Arsenal, who presumably expect to see an increase in ticket sales as a result.

He is known a versatile "second striker" who plays as an attacking midfielder and his greatest skill is close control, pace and vision.

He graduated from Smena football school. In 1999 and 2000 he played for Zenit's farm club, Zenit-2, in the Russian Second Division.

He was included in the Zenit St. Petersburg squad in 2000. During his long and illustrious career with Zenit he played in various positions. He started as a right midfielder, then became an attacking midfielder and finally adopted the role of second striker, playing on a flank or just behind the main striker.

He was voted Russian Premier League player of the season in 2006 because of his ability to play well as either winger, striker or playmaker.

Arshavin helped Zenit St. Petersburg win the 2007 Russian Premier League title, a season in which he started all 30 matches, scored 10 goals and provided 11 assists along the way. It was Zenit's first league title since they won the old Soviet Top League in 1984.

He is a very intelligent player excelling at killer passes and through balls. Control, vision and strong running are the main characteristics of his game. He also doesn't talk very much and doesn't give many interviews, even in Russian.

In the UEFA Cup Arshavin scored 11 goals in 25 matches. Arshavin was the driving force behind the Zenit team and man-of-the-match and set up both goals when Zenit won the UEFA Cup on 14th May 2008.

Kevin Keegan allegedly was the first English manager to show an interest in Arshavin and is said to have made an £11 million pound bid to try and sign Arshavin for Newcastle, Spurs also tried and failed to sign Arshavin. It was Arsene Wenger and Arsenal who finally signed him, as Zenit became more realistic about the transfer fee.

Arshavin played for Russia for the first time on on May 17, 2002 against Belarus.
He was included in the Russia Euro 2008 squad by manager Guus Hiddink, despite the fact that he was suspended and therefore unable to play in the first two group matches. On his return he scored Russia's second goal against Sweden in Innsbruck.


Honours :

2003 Russian Premier League Cup
2007 Russian Premier League
2008 Russian Super Cup
2008 UEFA Cup
2008 UEFA Super Cup

Voted Russian Footballer of the Year in 2006

Arsenal who are ten points behind Manchester United and five points behind Aston Villa (who they also have to play in the FA Cup) will be hoping he can revive their season. Arshavin will not be eligible to play in the Champions League this season.

Andrei Arshavin Wallpapers