Source: Telegraph
Andrei Arshavin's agent denies Manchester City interest
Mark Hughes was said to be planning to hijack Arsenal's attempts to bring the 27-year-old to the Premier League after his efforts to sign Kaka from AC Milan collapsed. But Latcher insists he had heard nothing from the club. [LNB]"City? I wouldn't know," he said. "I can say that I have not had any contact with Manchester City and I don't know if Zenit have been in touch with them."[LNB]Arshavin has been the topic of transfer speculation ever since he said he wanted to leave Zenit St Petersburg. The possibility of him becoming available prompted an abundance of European clubs to show an interest, but by his own admission he wanted a move to Manchester United or Arsenal. [LNB]Interest appeared to go stale after Zenit announced their valuation of £20 million, with Arsenal now the only club in talks with Dick Advocaat, the Zenit St Petersburg manager. [LNB]"I have had two meetings with Juventus and Inter [Milan], but nothing happened in the end," Latcher said. [LNB]"At the moment I cannot say anything until things begin to evolve. I don't think things will happen all at once. [LNB]"Zenit have already refused Arsenal's offer so we are still having to wait."[LNB]Arsene Wenger had his initial bid of £8 million turned down and is understood to have increased it to £15m. Negotiations are said to be ongoing, and Arsenal executives are due in St Petersburg to talk in more detail. [LNB]Meanwhile, City have said they will make one last attempt to bring Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz to the club. According to the Mirror[LNB], Hughes is preparing a straight-cash deal for the Paraguayan as opposed to previous offers which have been based on staged payments. This arrangement would leave Sam Allardyce with enough disposable cash to find an immediate replacement. [LNB]
