The 2006 Russian footballer of the year is a versatile attacking midfielder who can also play as a second striker. Arshavin gained international attention during his breakthrough performance at the UEFA Euro 2008 championship in Austria-Switzerland which resulted in his inclusion in the Team of the Tournament.
Signing for Arsenal in 2009, Arshavin enjoyed a successful start to his career with the Gunners, becoming Premier League Player of the Month in April 2009 and Arsenal's player of the month in March and April 2009. During the 2008–09 season, he scored six goals in 12 league appearances for Arsenal. In a match against Liverpool, Arshavin became the first player to score four league goals at Anfield since 1946. Former Arsenal forward Dennis Bergkamp has speculated that Arshavin has "every chance of becoming a favourite of the London fans".
Contents
1 Early years
2 Club career
2.1 Zenit Saint Petersburg
2.2 Arsenal
2.3 Debut season
2.4 2009-10
2.5 2010-11
3 International career
3.1 UEFA Euro 2008
3.2 2010 World Cup qualifying
3.3 International goals
4 Career statistics
5 World Cup 2018 bid
6 Honours
6.1 Club
6.2 Individual
7 Personal Life
7.1 Family
8 References
8.1 Bibliography
9 External links
Early years
Andrei Sergeyevich Arshavin was born in Leningrad, now called St. Petersburg, on 29 May 1981 to a typical Russian working class family. His father Sergey was a gifted amateur footballer. Arshavin survived an accident that could have potentially killed him when he was hit by a car as a child. His upbringing was made a lot harder when his parents divorced when he was aged 12 with Andrei having to sleep on the floor of a cramped flat with his mother. It was his father who persuaded him to pursue a career in football after his own failure to become a professional football player. Arshavin began playing football at an early age and at seven years of age he was enrolled in the Smena football academy of Zenit, his hometown club. As a schoolboy before football became his sole focus, he was also a promising draughts player. Arshavin's father died of heart failure at the age of 40.He has written three books including one called ‘555 Questions and Answers on Women, Money, Politics and Football’. Arshavin also has a degree in Fashion Design. He often misbehaved at school,"I behaved badly at school. When I was in the second form, I tore down the registering journal of the class". It was this incident described by Arshavin that saw him expelled.
career
Saint Petersburg
Arshavin playing for Zenit
In 2000, Arshavin was included in the Zenit first-team squad, making his debut in a 3–0 away win over English side Bradford City in the Intertoto Cup, coming on as a first half substitute for Andrey Kobelev. 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 the target man. He won the Russian Premier League Award for the player of the season largely because of his ability to play well as a Attacking Midfielder, playmaker and as a striker.
In the 2007 Russian Premier League season, Shava (Шава in Russian), as he was nicknamed by Zenit fans, guided his Zenit Saint Petersburg side to the title, starting all 30 matches, scoring 11 goals and providing 11 assists (the most in the Russian Premier League that year) along the way. It was the club's first league title since winning the now defunct Soviet Top League in 1984. Arshavin was also a key player during Zenit's 2008 UEFA Cup triumph and was named Man of the Match in the final, again topping the list for assists in that season's UEFA competition.[12] In October 2008, Arshavin was nominated for the prestigious Ballon d'Or award, along with 29 others including compatriot Yuri Zhirkov.
Arshavin's performances in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Euro 2008 brought him to the attention of several European clubs. However, interest had already been expressed in January 2008 by Newcastle United boss Sam Allardyce but he was sacked as manager as the transfer window opened. In June 2008, FC Barcelona had their €15 million offer for the player turned down by Zenit. Tottenham Hotspur's £16m offer in August also fell short of Zenit's £22m asking price.Zenit's unwillingness to compromise on their asking price caused discontent from both Arshavin, who said the 2008 season was definitely going to be his last with Zenit, and his agent Denis Lachter
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