Robbie Keane Out – Roman Pavlyuchenko In: Tottenham Look to Replace Irishman with Russian
Tottenham are expected to splash the cash following the sale of star striker and Vice-Captain Robbie Keane to Liverpool this week with a number of strikers on Juande Ramos’ radar. However, with rumours of moves for the likes of David Villa, Samuel Eto’o and Andrei Arshavin sounding slightly ambitious, the signing of the Russian forward Roman Pavlyuchenko doesn’t.
Pavlyuchenko may be easier to convince to move to North London than his compatriot Arshavin and should be a lot cheaper too. His club side Spartak Moscow have reportedly rejected a £10m offer from Tottenham mainly due to his price tag rocketing following his Euro 2008 heroics. Prior to Euro 2008, Celtic were in negotiations to sign the player for as little as £6m. However, he is unlikely to cost anywhere near the £20m+ that Arshavin would and his wages would surely not be as high.
The 26-year-old has scored a total of 68 goals in 139 League appearances for Spartak. He’s also finished top scorer domestically for the past 2 seasons. He’s scored more goals than Man City’s new £18M signing the Brazilian Jo but would reportedly cost far less.
The Spartak forward scored against Sweden, Spain and Holland at Euro 2008 and has a record of 9 goals in 22 appearances at international level. This includes 2 goals in the European qualifying win over England which made a number of clubs sit up and take notice of the forward’s talent. He’s expected to move this summer but only Spurs and an unnamed Greek side have reportedly bid for him.
The addition of Pavlyuchenko may well have the fans ‘Russian’ to have a look at the new look Tottenham but would he be able to fill the hole left by the impish Irishman or is he more likely a direct replacement for want-away star Dimitar Berbatov?
So would Spurs fans see his the Russian star’s arrival as a good move for the club or would you prefer other potential targets? Let’s hear your views.
Tags: Dimitar Berbatov, Euro 2008, Liverpool, Robbie Keane, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russia, Spartak Moscow, Tottenham
