Insightful reading. Translation of an interview with Mitrofanov (Zenit chairman):
From Sovietsky Sport: http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/319233
Late on Monday evening Zenit released a statement in which it was claimed that an agreement had been reached in principle with Arsenal over the transfer of Arshavin. What is now holding up the deal?
From the beginning we were ready to let Arshavin go for 20 million pounds, although we understood that we would probably have to lower that figure. Arsenal began with a bid of 12 million pounds. We began the process of coming to a compromise, which, in priciple,we have now reached. The only remaining necessary condition is that this interests the third party – the player himself.
It was mentioned that Arshavin could repay half of the 5 million Euro signing-on fee that was paid to him in 2006?
I don’t want to talk about specific amounts. But I can tell you that Arshavin has two choices. The first is indeed connected to the signing-on fee that he received two years ago. He was given that money for signing a 4-year contract with Zenit. That contract has only run half way. It is therefore logical that he should return half of the fee to Zenit. This is standard European practise and we were sure than Arshavin understood this. However, he would not even consider this option, which certainly surprised everyone, including Dick Advocaat, who has always called for us to respect the wishes of the player to leave for a strong, European club.
What is the second option?
Arsenal cannot offer us more than 15 million pounds. Zenit will not sell for less than 18 million pounds. So where to find the outstanding 3 million? According to Arsenal Arshavin has demanded an annual wage of 3.5 million pounds after tax. When you consider the huge taxes that have to be paid, it actually works out that Arsenal are spending 6.5-7 million a year on the player. Times this by four for a four-year contract and you have more than 25 million pounds. If Arshavin could come to some kind of agreement with Arsenal and agree a wage of 2.5 million a year, the club would save 4 million pounds and 3 of those millions could be used to repay Zenit. We would then receive 18 million. But it seems this option also doesn’t interest Arshavin.
But 2.5 million pounds is still more than the 2.2 million euros that he earned at Zenit!
Correct. That begs the question; what does the player really want? Does he want to play for a club he loves or just make himself richer? Andrei has on many occasions spoken of his desire to play abroad but he is not willing to respect the interests of Zenit or come to a compromise with Arsenal. In actual fact tha key to the 'golden cage’ lies in his hands alone. No one forced him to sign a contract and take a signing-on fee. He did that through his own free will.
Did the board of directors discuss the transfer on Monday?
It was decided a long time ago that it was necessary to sell the player to Arsenal. Every member of the board share this opnion. Zenit’s president, Aleksandr Dyukov personally supervised the process and negotiations were hald between myself and Arsenal director Ken Friar.
And what role has Dennis Lachter, Arshavin’s agent, played in all this?
He is there to discuss the personal conditions of the player. He did try to take over negotaions with Arsenal in our name but the Londoners came back to us straight away and the negotiations were done directly. As far as I know Arshavin still has an agreement in place with his former agent (Pavel Andreev) and Lachter is only representing the interests of the player.
Is it true that Lachter demanded 5 million Euro if the deal goes through?
That’s a question for Lachter. I can only say that in December, upon Arshavin’s request, Zenit gave him authorisation to begin discussing the players personal terms for this transfer. Usually the player does not have the right to agree personal terms with other clubs while he still has 2 years of his contract left to run.
In the autumn Arshavin will have the right to buy out his contract and become a free agent. In that case Zenit will receive a lot less..
Yes, according to FIFA rules a player may buy out his contract after a certain period of time. The player has the right to terminate an agreement having paid a compensation fee to the club. The fee depends on the player’s wages and other amounts that the club may have spent on the player. In this case - signing-on fees. But there is one thing to bear in mind; a number of major clubs in Europe joined together and agreed not to take on players that had left their previous clubs using this method, thus protecting themselves against the same thing happening to them. This agreement is not formally set in stone but it exists. If Arshavin buys out his contract he will not find a place at any top club. This course of action would not be beneficial to him.
Is it true that when Arshavin signed his contract in 2006, the former president of the club, Sergei Fursenko, promised he could leave Zenit for 15 million euros?
This is what Andrei claims. I cannot confirm or refute it – I was not privy to that conversation. But in any case, when considering a transfer you have to take on board a number of factors. Firstly, two years ago Andrei was not a UEFA Cup winner, a European Super Cup winner or a bronze-medal winner at the Euros. Secondly, only Barcelona formally offered 15 million euros. But they required a very quick answer and were already ready to spend that amount of money on another player. They also could not promise Arshavin a first-team place. They said “yes, this is a good player, he will get a chance off the bench but we can only offer a supporting role.” I don’t think that Andrei wanted that as he confirmed, I think, in an interview.
It was written that Tottenham offered 20 million Euros.
Tottenham offered 16 million euros in installments of 4 million over 4 years. This offer didn’t suit us and they tried for a long time to think up something different. They even offered us 5 players instead of money but we of course refused.
With regards to Arsenal, this is the third club that has put in a formal offer for Arshavin. On the 27th or 28th December we received a fax from Ken Friar offering 12 million. The rest is history.
How do you see the development of this story?
This evening Arsenal are trying to iron out the difficulties with Dennis Lachter. I hope that everything will end positively. The transfer window closes on 02 February but Arsenal still have to get a work permit for Arshavin and that can take a couple of days. We understand that all the details must be finalised by Wednesday morning at the latest.
-------------
As I said before, there was nothing to worry about because its boths clubs best interest to come to a comprimise, there is no way either was walking out without a deal.
But I bolded two parts, the first part to highlight to Alen direct proof of something we discussed before, about clubs not touching others players in that way, of how non will do despite it not being an official rule. Very interesting to hear it from a club chairman.
The second is self explanatory...Tottenham offered 5 FUCKING PLAYERS for Arshavin
Ok, not that they are just 5, the absurdness in that alone, of acheiving such a deal, how retarded you have to be. But seriously, how HARD wouldnt it be to convince 5 of your players to move to and play in Russia? Very rare they would accept such a thing, but that they actually TRIED 
From Sovietsky Sport: http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/319233
Late on Monday evening Zenit released a statement in which it was claimed that an agreement had been reached in principle with Arsenal over the transfer of Arshavin. What is now holding up the deal?
From the beginning we were ready to let Arshavin go for 20 million pounds, although we understood that we would probably have to lower that figure. Arsenal began with a bid of 12 million pounds. We began the process of coming to a compromise, which, in priciple,we have now reached. The only remaining necessary condition is that this interests the third party – the player himself.
It was mentioned that Arshavin could repay half of the 5 million Euro signing-on fee that was paid to him in 2006?
I don’t want to talk about specific amounts. But I can tell you that Arshavin has two choices. The first is indeed connected to the signing-on fee that he received two years ago. He was given that money for signing a 4-year contract with Zenit. That contract has only run half way. It is therefore logical that he should return half of the fee to Zenit. This is standard European practise and we were sure than Arshavin understood this. However, he would not even consider this option, which certainly surprised everyone, including Dick Advocaat, who has always called for us to respect the wishes of the player to leave for a strong, European club.
What is the second option?
Arsenal cannot offer us more than 15 million pounds. Zenit will not sell for less than 18 million pounds. So where to find the outstanding 3 million? According to Arsenal Arshavin has demanded an annual wage of 3.5 million pounds after tax. When you consider the huge taxes that have to be paid, it actually works out that Arsenal are spending 6.5-7 million a year on the player. Times this by four for a four-year contract and you have more than 25 million pounds. If Arshavin could come to some kind of agreement with Arsenal and agree a wage of 2.5 million a year, the club would save 4 million pounds and 3 of those millions could be used to repay Zenit. We would then receive 18 million. But it seems this option also doesn’t interest Arshavin.
But 2.5 million pounds is still more than the 2.2 million euros that he earned at Zenit!
Correct. That begs the question; what does the player really want? Does he want to play for a club he loves or just make himself richer? Andrei has on many occasions spoken of his desire to play abroad but he is not willing to respect the interests of Zenit or come to a compromise with Arsenal. In actual fact tha key to the 'golden cage’ lies in his hands alone. No one forced him to sign a contract and take a signing-on fee. He did that through his own free will.
Did the board of directors discuss the transfer on Monday?
It was decided a long time ago that it was necessary to sell the player to Arsenal. Every member of the board share this opnion. Zenit’s president, Aleksandr Dyukov personally supervised the process and negotiations were hald between myself and Arsenal director Ken Friar.
And what role has Dennis Lachter, Arshavin’s agent, played in all this?
He is there to discuss the personal conditions of the player. He did try to take over negotaions with Arsenal in our name but the Londoners came back to us straight away and the negotiations were done directly. As far as I know Arshavin still has an agreement in place with his former agent (Pavel Andreev) and Lachter is only representing the interests of the player.
Is it true that Lachter demanded 5 million Euro if the deal goes through?
That’s a question for Lachter. I can only say that in December, upon Arshavin’s request, Zenit gave him authorisation to begin discussing the players personal terms for this transfer. Usually the player does not have the right to agree personal terms with other clubs while he still has 2 years of his contract left to run.
In the autumn Arshavin will have the right to buy out his contract and become a free agent. In that case Zenit will receive a lot less..
Yes, according to FIFA rules a player may buy out his contract after a certain period of time. The player has the right to terminate an agreement having paid a compensation fee to the club. The fee depends on the player’s wages and other amounts that the club may have spent on the player. In this case - signing-on fees. But there is one thing to bear in mind; a number of major clubs in Europe joined together and agreed not to take on players that had left their previous clubs using this method, thus protecting themselves against the same thing happening to them. This agreement is not formally set in stone but it exists. If Arshavin buys out his contract he will not find a place at any top club. This course of action would not be beneficial to him.
Is it true that when Arshavin signed his contract in 2006, the former president of the club, Sergei Fursenko, promised he could leave Zenit for 15 million euros?
This is what Andrei claims. I cannot confirm or refute it – I was not privy to that conversation. But in any case, when considering a transfer you have to take on board a number of factors. Firstly, two years ago Andrei was not a UEFA Cup winner, a European Super Cup winner or a bronze-medal winner at the Euros. Secondly, only Barcelona formally offered 15 million euros. But they required a very quick answer and were already ready to spend that amount of money on another player. They also could not promise Arshavin a first-team place. They said “yes, this is a good player, he will get a chance off the bench but we can only offer a supporting role.” I don’t think that Andrei wanted that as he confirmed, I think, in an interview.
It was written that Tottenham offered 20 million Euros.
Tottenham offered 16 million euros in installments of 4 million over 4 years. This offer didn’t suit us and they tried for a long time to think up something different. They even offered us 5 players instead of money but we of course refused.
With regards to Arsenal, this is the third club that has put in a formal offer for Arshavin. On the 27th or 28th December we received a fax from Ken Friar offering 12 million. The rest is history.
How do you see the development of this story?
This evening Arsenal are trying to iron out the difficulties with Dennis Lachter. I hope that everything will end positively. The transfer window closes on 02 February but Arsenal still have to get a work permit for Arshavin and that can take a couple of days. We understand that all the details must be finalised by Wednesday morning at the latest.
-------------
As I said before, there was nothing to worry about because its boths clubs best interest to come to a comprimise, there is no way either was walking out without a deal.
But I bolded two parts, the first part to highlight to Alen direct proof of something we discussed before, about clubs not touching others players in that way, of how non will do despite it not being an official rule. Very interesting to hear it from a club chairman.
The second is self explanatory...Tottenham offered 5 FUCKING PLAYERS for Arshavin
Ok, not that they are just 5, the absurdness in that alone, of acheiving such a deal, how retarded you have to be. But seriously, how HARD wouldnt it be to convince 5 of your players to move to and play in Russia? Very rare they would accept such a thing, but that they actually TRIED 
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