Arshavin to have discussions with english clubs

Andrei Arshavin's agent, Dennis Lachter, expects his russian play maker to set talks with the top english clubs about his future and a possible move to the premier league in the next few weeks.

After an impressive Euro 2008 campaign with his national team Russia, Arshavin has put himself on the radar for a host of top clubs now after his signature. The 27 -year old Zenit St Petersburg star who's man of the match performance against Rangers in the Uefa Cup final at the city of Manchester stadium helped his side win their first European cup in their history.

Barcelona have already showed their interest for the Russian by offering a reported 15 million euros (£12M) earlier this week, and with Spain being Arshavin's top choice due to his love affair with the club, Camp Nou seems his most favourable destination. Lachter, the players agent has said that his player would consider a move to England but only if they could offer him champions league football so he could further his career.

Fee's being discussed by the players agent suggests that a move to the premier is going to be some what unrealistic as Zenit St Petersburg are only willing to listen to clubs offering almost double what Barcelona tabled earlier this week. Such a high transfer fee may have discouraged the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool off Arshavin trail but the transfer may still be possible for Phil Scolari's Chelsea who has wealthy owner Roman Ambramovich to call upon if Scolari beleives that the signing will help his squad in their trophy push in the up and coming season.

With Chelsea already splashing out around £24M on portugease stars Jose Bosingwa and Deco, Ambramovich purse strings may have been sealed for the time being anyway.