Barcelona have made an official approach to Zenit St Petersburg about signing Andrei Arshavin after the player made an appeal for the Catalan club to sign.
The bid was confirmed by an official from the Russian club and could see the Blaugrana jump to the front of the queue in the race for the highly-rated forward's signature.
Arshavin stated publicly that he has always been a Barça fan and that if he were to leave Zenit then his preferred destination would be Camp Nou.
Arsenal are also said to be interested, but Barcelona have now made their move and approached the player's club directly with an opening gambit, the clubs sporting director revealed.
"Barcelona has made a formal proposal to Zenit for the purchase of Arshavin," Konstantin Sarsaniya told Sovietski Sport. "We will only talk about this once Andrei returns to Zenit."
According to reports in Spain, the 27-year-old had already been brought to Barça's attention in conversations between Zenit bos Dick Advocaat and Frank Rijkaard's assistant Johan Neeskens.
The recommendation was passed on to the board and after receiving very favourable scouting reports, the Blaugrana have made their move with a bid.
Throughout the summer, the Catalan media have claimed that Pep Guardiola would only secure one more signing with a forward joining the club, but that was expected to be a lofty striker.
Emmanuel Adebayor has been strongly linked while Dimitar Berbatov has also been mentioned and Barcelona may still pursue either of them to play alongside Arshavin and Leo Messi.
There is a referendum on the current board on July 6 where fans will vote to see if Joan Laporta and his regime should stay in place and if they choose to remove him then all transfer activity at Barça will cease until at least September.
The bid was confirmed by an official from the Russian club and could see the Blaugrana jump to the front of the queue in the race for the highly-rated forward's signature.
Arshavin stated publicly that he has always been a Barça fan and that if he were to leave Zenit then his preferred destination would be Camp Nou.
Arsenal are also said to be interested, but Barcelona have now made their move and approached the player's club directly with an opening gambit, the clubs sporting director revealed.
"Barcelona has made a formal proposal to Zenit for the purchase of Arshavin," Konstantin Sarsaniya told Sovietski Sport. "We will only talk about this once Andrei returns to Zenit."
According to reports in Spain, the 27-year-old had already been brought to Barça's attention in conversations between Zenit bos Dick Advocaat and Frank Rijkaard's assistant Johan Neeskens.
The recommendation was passed on to the board and after receiving very favourable scouting reports, the Blaugrana have made their move with a bid.
Throughout the summer, the Catalan media have claimed that Pep Guardiola would only secure one more signing with a forward joining the club, but that was expected to be a lofty striker.
Emmanuel Adebayor has been strongly linked while Dimitar Berbatov has also been mentioned and Barcelona may still pursue either of them to play alongside Arshavin and Leo Messi.
There is a referendum on the current board on July 6 where fans will vote to see if Joan Laporta and his regime should stay in place and if they choose to remove him then all transfer activity at Barça will cease until at least September.
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