by ManchesterRoyals »
24 Jan 2013 21:08
Reading manager Brian McDermott has played down talk of Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin joining the club in the January transfer window.
The Russia international has barely featured for Arsenal this season, and Arsene Wenger is said to be keen to remove the high-earner from the wage bill.
Reading were rumoured to be preparing a four million-pound bid to reunite the mercurial forward with countryman and former Zenit St Petersburg team-mate Pavel Pogrebnyak.
However, McDermott distanced himself from such speculation, telling Sky Sports: “It’s one that I’ve heard many times.
“He’s an Arsenal player. I don’t think he will be a Reading player.”
However, the Reading manager insisted there are funds available to bolster the team’s fight against relegation, with owner Anton Zingarevich willing to spend should the right player be identified.
“We haven’t broken the bank, I certainly haven’t in the last three years and we probably haven’t in the last 12 years as a club,” McDermott said.
“That’s not to say that if a player came in that we felt was right for us, at the right cost, then the owner would have to make a decision to back that deal. Then we will wait and see.
“It’s not a case of we wouldn’t if it was right.”