Gazidis eases Arshavin doubts

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has played down the lingering doubts over the validity of Andrey Arshavin's transfer. Russian playmaker Arshavin's switch from Zenit St Petersburg to the Gunners was not officially announced until 24 hours after the winter transfer window deadline.A delay over the processing of paperwork at the Premier League held up the confirmation, but question marks still remain over the deal, with fourth-placed Aston Villa thought to be keen to discuss Arshavin's arrival.ConclusionHowever, Gazidis told the club's official website: "We probably bored everybody, and I think everyone got a bit tired of the ongoing story."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."

Source: SKY_Sports