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Spurs must bid more to secure Arshavin claims Advocaat

30/08/2008

Zenit St Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat says Tottenham Hotspur must increase their offer for Andrei Arshavin considerably in order to capture the forward.

Spurs are set to sign Arshavin's Russian team-mate Roman Pavlyuchenko, sparking suggestions that they could revive the Arshavin deal in order to pair the two together.

Arshavin was left on the bench for Zenit's European Super Cup match against Manchester United last night – prompting further speculation that a move to White Hart Lane was imminent for the 27-year-old.

However, Advocaat says he was simply spreading playing time across his squad and does not expect the Russian international to leave the club.

Advcoaat said: "I should perhaps also have to explain why other players were not playing.

"You make a decision and that was that Dominguez played the first half and Arshavin the second. It's as simple as that."

The former Netherlands manager says that Spurs' valuation of the player is considerably below Zenit's and that the north London side must meet Zenit's price before anything else can be done.

Advocaat says Spurs are £5 million short of what Zenit want for the player if he is to leave.

"The door's closed, the deal's closed. Tottenham offered €16 million [£12.9 million] and that's not enough, so that's the end of it," insisted the Zenit boss.

"They [Tottenham] had several weeks of time to buy him and they did not offer €22 million [£17.8 million] like everybody has been writing but just €16 million [£12.9 million].

"I think that Arshavin costs more than €16 million [£12.9 million]."

Spurs are still hoping to hold on to striker Dimitar Berbatov, although if he is lured away by Manchester United then they may have to meet Zenit's demands in order to replace the Bulgarian.