Arsenal Football Club News

• Nickname:Gunners
• Founded:1886
• Manager:Arsene Wenger

• Ground:Emirates
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Gunners defend deal timing

05 Feb 2009 - 13:03:34

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Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has admitted the transfer of Andrey Arshavin took longer than expected, but has accused the media of 'dramatising' the deal.

The Gunners finally confirmed the capture of the Russia midfielder from Zenit St Petersburg 24 hours after Monday's deadline following a series of conflicting reports suggesting the deal had fallen through.

Several other Premier League clubs are believed to be unhappy at the Premier League sanctioning the move after the deadline and are set to raise the issue as a meeting on Thursday afternoon.

But Gazidis claims the protracted deal was agreed before the deadline and the details were passed to the league in time.

"We probably bored everybody and I think everyone got a bit tired of the ongoing story," he told Arsenal TV Online.

"It took longer than anybody would have wanted to get to a conclusion, but we got there in the end. People dramatise these things a little bit.

"It was never on until it finally got done, but it was not on and off through the day either.

"Certainly it went closer to the deadline than I would have liked, but sometimes you have to do that to finally push it over the finish line."