Gunners close on Arshavin

Zenit St Petersburg hope to reach a 'logical conclusion' in their ongoing negotiations with Arsenal regarding Andrei Arshavin.

The Gunners have been linked with the Russia playmaker for a number of weeks, with the player said to be considering going on strike or buying out his contract should the deal stall.

But after an evening of talks, Zenit general director Maksim Mitrofanov stated that the details were finally being thrashed out to bring Arshavin to London.

In addition, it appears that the two sides are conducting face-to-face talks without Arshavin's agent, Denis Lachter, who has lobbied very publicly for the transfer to go ahead.

"We are certainly conducting negotiations directly with the Arsenal chief executive," Mitrofanov said.

"The footballer's agent (Lachter) is not taking part in them.

"Because of this he simply does not know all the details of the process of negotiation, and in this sense his comments should not always be trusted.

"As regards the process itself, as I have already said, it is not simple, but it is moving and we hope that it will lead to its logical conclusion."

Meanwhile, Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has warned Zenit to take it or leave it after making their final offer for Arshavin.

The Gunners are believed to have tabled a Ł12million offer which could rise to Ł15million and Hill-Wood insists the North London side will not be going any higher.

"This is our final offer - we don't go any further," Hill-Wood told the Daily Star.

"If we don't get him, we don't get him. There are other fish in the sea.

"There is a limit. We made an offer and have now increased it a bit, but we don't do exactly what everyone wants us to do necessarily."

Hill-Wood also moved to clear up confusion on why a delegation from Arsenal had not travelled to Russia this week to try and push through the deal.

"I don't know where that whole thing came from," added Hill-Wood. "There was never any suggestion anyone would go over there."