Pavlyuchenko: “I’m joining Spurs”

One of the transfer stories of the summer has been Andrei Arshavin’s reported move to North London outfit, Tottenham Hotspur; but now, it seems, Arshavin’s Russian strike partner, Roman Pavlyuchenko, is set to join Spurs. He earlier claimed that he wouldn’t move away from Russia due to fear of unsettling his young family. But, the striker has claimed that he is close to completing a move to White Hart Lane.

“I shall be granted a visa now and, as soon as it is ready, I’ll fly to England for the signing of the contract,” he told uefa.com.

“I have already returned to Moscow. So I will not play in Kiev. I can confirm I’m moving to Tottenham. 

“Everything happened very quickly. I did not even have time to say goodbye to my Spartak team-mates.”

The deal is thought to be around £14 million, with various add-ons. Pavlyuchenko, 26, has been at Spartak Moscow for five years and scored an impressive 75 times in 145 matches. He has 21 Russian caps, scoring 9 times for his country. If the deal does go through, I well expect Juande Ramos to bring in one more striker, as well as one defender, before the closure of the transfer window. Idealy, VedranCorluka and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar/ Radamel Falcao. I beleive that two strikers will be signed because youngster, Tomas Pekhart, has been sent out on loan to Southampton until January.