You often get players who light up a World Cup or a European Championships, only to be signed by a Premier League outfit and flatter to deceive, before being sold on for a much lower fee. It’s perfectly feasible that this may have happened here, so perhaps Tottenham are better off keeping their powder dry and hunting down some other targets in their bid to replace Robbie Keane.

The Guardian report that the prospect of Spurs signing Andrei Arshavin is dead in the water, with Zenit St Petersburg wanting the moon on a stick for their talented playmaker. There’s no doubting he was one of the outstanding performers in Austria and Switzerland this summer, although how many Russians do well in the EPL?

Tottenham Hotspur have been unable to break the impasse over the proposed transfer of Andrei Arshavin and last night Zenit St Petersburg, the midfielder’s club, declared the issue to be “closed”. Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, had placed the Russia international prominently on the club’s list of summer targets but despite Arshavin’s eagerness to complete the move, Zenit have refused to yield.

Zenit said they had given Tottenham until three days ago to meet their demands over Arshavin and that Spurs had missed that deadline. “The uncertainty of the situation does not make it possible for the club to seek out a replacement for Andrei [before the September 1 transfer deadline] and Zenit consider the question of the transfer of the player to Tottenham closed,” the Russian club said. One source close to the transfer yesterday described the asking price for Arshavin as “madness”.

Where next for Tottenham? It seems like they would dearly like to get their hands on Luis Fabiano, the Sevilla striker, although that won’t be easy with supposed bad blood between the Spanish club and Juande Ramos. It’s looking a bit bleak for Spurs up front, with just Darren Bent and a half-interested Dimitar Berbatov.

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