Andrei Arshavin: A wasted genius

As 2009/10 progressed and Arshavin’s form worsened, Wenger perhaps did not help the situation by still persisting with the Russian in an uncomfortable left-sided role. The Russian’s cause was not helped further with Wenger seeming to attempt to make his role a more disciplined and defensive role rather than his preferred free role. It is fair enough that Wenger was thinking of the team as a whole, but unfortunately for Wenger it is rather difficult to set boundaries for such a individualistic player. Even when Fabregas left Arsenal to sign for boyhood club Barcelona, Wenger had seemingly lost faith in Arshavin and refused to deploy him in the slot left behind by Fabregas, despite the now vacant position behind almost tailor-made for Arshavin. Sadly, Arshavin would never really win Wenger’s faith back.

There was a brief glimpse of what could have been for Arshavin at Euro 2012, as the enigmatic Russian led Russia into the tournament as captain. Fans of the Premier League were expecting very little from a player that had put in minimal effort in the season leading up to the championships, but in the opening game of the tournament, Russia v Czech Republic, Arshavin was unrecognisable. He was brilliant. Why was he brilliant? Well Arshavin was giving the freedom to play freely between the lines of the Czech midfield and defence and thus he caused absolute havoc. A true masterclass was delivered and Europe stood up and took notice again, just like they had 4 years previous. Aside from a Cruyffian display of technical ability, Arshavin also showed a less familiar side to his game with positive closing down of players and some lung bursting runs past defenders, a sight that had been alien from his Premier League performances for a long time.

Unfortunately, this was merely a glimpse of the great man’s powers as Russia drew and lost the last two group games and crashed out of the tournament. Alongside the manager Dick Advocaat, Arshavin the skipper was made the fall guy again and he returned to his former footballing melancholy, accused of not caring whether the Russian team succeeded or not.

Arshavin is perhaps one of Wenger’s greatest examples of why he is so prudent in the transfer window. A luxury signing that appeased fans in the short term, but ultimately a signing that will sadly fall into the ‘Wenger’s flops’ category of signings along with Francis Jeffers, Pascal Cygan and the anonymous Park Chu-Young.

Following his release from Arsenal there has been some speculation that Arshavin could be made the best paid player in the world by joining Azerbaijani club Khazar Lankaran (now managed by John Toshack). Whether he heads to Azerbaijan remains to be seen, but the astronomical wages will not make up for the past three years and how a genius was wasted.