Spurs Enquire for Arshavin

[Lemmy]

Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has told the Russian media he is poised to join Tottenham Hotspur.

"I can confirm I'm joining Spurs. Right now I'm getting my visa and as soon as it is ready I will fly to England to sign a contract," he said.

"Everything has happened very quickly so I could not even say goodbye to my team-mates."

Pavlyuchenko added that he would not play for Spartak in their Champions League qualifier on Wednesday.

The club travel to face Dynamo Kiev in the second leg of their third qualifying round and Pavlyuchenko will miss out after he reportedly returned to Moscow for talks with the Premier League club.

BBC Sport understands that the deal is not yet a formality but Spartak's general manager Valery Karpin said his club have accepted a bid from Tottenham.

"There is a concrete sum which Tottenham proposed and we have agreed the amount," he told Russian newspaper Soviet Sport.

"If Roman will agree a contract then we are ready to let go him go. If Roman begins to play in England, this will be good both for him and for the team."

Pavlyuchenko was Russia's top scorer at Euro 2008 with three goals as they reached the semi-finals and he also netted twice in a 2-1 win over England in a qualifying match in October last year.

"I could not decide if I wanted to go to England at first - first yes, then no," added Pavlyuchenko.

"The only thing that stopped me from leaving was my family. But now all doubts are behind me and I decided to sign a contract with Tottenham and the formalities are practically settled."

Spurs have been searching for a striker as a replacement for Robbie Keane, who joined Liverpool for £20.3m this summer, while Dimitar Berbatov looks set to leave the club before the end of the current transfer window on 1 September.

The Bulgaria striker has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United and did not feature in Spurs's 2-1 defeat at home to Sunderland on Saturday.

Spurs had originally targeted Pavlyuchenko's Russian team-mate Andrei Arshavin but the club decided not to follow up their initial interest in the Zenit St Petersburg playmaker.

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Tottenham | Pavlyuchenko 'set for Spurs move'

[bandini]

It's settled. After all the talk it's Pavlyuchenko and not Arshavin at the end of the day. Still a good signing I think and will help when Berbs leaves to United.