Andrey Arshavin: I would never move to Real Madrid

Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin stated that the representatives of Anzhi didn’t approach him despite media reports on the contrary and admitted that there is one club he would never agree to move to.

«You already denied the information about your alleged transfer to Anzhi yesterday. How do you think, where it all comes from?»

«I have no idea. I even have no assumptions in this respect – it’s a complete puzzle, which, to say the truth, I’m not especially keen on solving.»

«But did the Makhachkala club offer you anything?»

«How could they offer me anything if we had no contacts at all?»

«Not even informal conversations?»

«Yes, not even informal conversations.»

«Did this Monday pseudo-transfer bomb affect you somehow?»

«How could it affect me? It exploded somewhere far away and affected, I believe, only those who wanted to be affected. I am neither hot nor cold about it.»

«Meanwhile the Internet is boiling with the amounts, all of them quite fantastic: your expected salary is estimated to be €8 million a year or even €1 million a month. Isn’t that thought-provoking?

«Thoughts about what? About the imagination of those who write on the Internet? The situation is absolutely imaginary and I’ve already said that I will definitely spend this season at Arsenal, not somewhere else.»

«Still your yesterday’s disclaimer also fuelled suggestions that you will actually move, however, not to Anzhi, but to Zenit.»

«What can I say? I’ve said on multiple occasions that I now play for a club where I wanted to be and where I still want to be – a European top club. If I will have to come back to Russia sometime, Zenit will really be a priority option for me. But you can’t predict what expects you in the future, in some years or even in a season. As they say: if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.»

«Is there a club which you wouldn’t join for any amount of money?»

«Yes, there is one. It’s Real Madrid.»

«Why?»

«My friends are also surprised when I say it, but for me it’s an absolute taboo due to my old sympathy for Barcelona», Arshavin said in an interview with Sport-Express.