Hopefully this becomes great news for LLT´s Barça nut R.D. Baker as Zenit St. Petersburg officially stated that negotiations with Tottenham Hotspur over Euro2008 revelation Andrei Arshavin broke off earlier on Wednesday.

This leaves the door wide open for Barcelona to come in and swipe the player, but there is very little time. Zenit mentioned that any interested club s will have until August 31st to make an offer. Then there is the question of the high transfer fee that they are asking for and fighting over Arshavin about. The player has publicly stated that he would like to see that number lowered in order to ease any transcations, but that seems hard to do.

¨This case is closed, but we are still open to future offers,¨ said the Russian club´s public relations officer Alexei Bilinov in a press conference. The official mentioned that the Tottenham did not place an offer for the Russian international by the August 18 deadline. For Spurs boss Juande Ramos it was a second chance at getting a talent that he passed on a few years earlier when the Russian was training with Sevilla. At that point in time he decided on taking fellow countryman Alexandr Kerzhakov.

Arshavin’s season was silent on an individual basis, even though Zenit won the UEFA Cup, but it was his performance in two matches of Euro2008 that sparked the demand for him throughout the continent. His goals against Sweden and the Netherlands left the fans in awe of what he could offer.

Now he could be ready to make the dream transfer as one of his childhood idols, Josep Guardiola, wants him to play on the side that Arshavin grew up admiring.

It was an absolute pleasure today to watch the dynamic match between Sevilla and Barcelona, which was a good advert for Spanish football despite the three red cards and passion on display.

Some of the things I found incredible were:

• In the first minute of the match, Barcelona began an uninterrupted passing movement that featured 32 passes from the Catalans. While I’m a big fan of GolTV commentators Phil Schoen and Ray Hudson, the two of them incredibly failed to notice this amazing feat. Instead, Ray talked non-stop right through all of the passes by building up the background and excitement for this clash instead of concentrating on what was happening on the pitch.

  Maybe it’s time for GolTV to do a proper build-up to matches and allow Schoen and Hudson five minutes before kick-off to educate the viewer about the match — instead of using the first few minutes of the actual game?

• Barcelona’s first goal was brilliant. Giuly beat the offside trap down the right wing and floated in a beautiful cross before the ball touched the byline, which was headed in with precision by, of all people, Ronaldinho. Hudson declared it the best header the world has ever seen. It was a piece of art, but I’m not sure it was that good.
• Sevilla looked good and came back against all of the odds with goals by Alexander Kerzhakov and a free kick by Daniel Alves. It was Kerzhakov who won the free kick for Sevilla outside the box. How Chelsea have overlooked this chap, I don’t know, but don’t be surprised if you hear his name again in this summer’s transfer window