How Arsenal’s Controversial Former Shareholder Helped Seal Arshavin Deal

By The Editor
on 27th December 2023

Alisher Usmanov played a role in former record-signing…

Former Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov reportedly played an influential role in the deal which saw us break our transfer record to bring Andrey Arshavin to the club in 2009, The Athletic reports.

Arshavin joined from Zenit St.Petersburg in the winter transfer window during the 2008/09 season as Arsene Wenger looked to add an injection of quality to aid our chase for Champions League qualification.

The fee shelled out for the former Russian superstar was labelled a ‘club record’ at the time in the region of £17million, exceeding the package that brought Jose Antonio Reyes to north London in 2004.

Arshavin was an instant hit, getting into double figures in goal contributions despite arriving halfway through the campaign as we eventually usurped Aston Villa to claim fourth place.

Now, in a piece highlighting the struggle for power between Usmanov and KSE which ended in 2018, The Athletic reveals Usmanov played a role in Arshavin’s arrival.

According to the report, given that Zenit were owned by state-owned energy giant Gazprom, Usmanov’s previous role as general director of the company during that period allowed him to flex his muscles.

Usmanov worked to ‘smooth the arrival’ of Arshavin, though his actions were described as ‘independent’ given that he wasn’t on the Arsenal board and had no say in any department.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing because had Usmanov won the battle to control Arsenal, we would currently be in a serious predicament following the sanctions placed on the oligarch as part of a resistance to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Usmanov would go on to aid his partner Farhad Moshiri’s takeover of Everton and, if that was a glimpse into what could’ve happened at the Emirates Stadium in an alternate universe, Arsenal fans can breathe a huge sigh of relief.