MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Spanish club
Villarreal have confirmed their interest in Tottenham Hotspur's
Russian forward Roman Pavlyuchenko, Sport Express said on
Monday.
The paper cited a Villarreal spokesman as saying that the
former Spartak Moscow striker was one of the players the club
was looking at to bolster its attacking force.
However, the paper also said that as the side was not
prepared to spend more than 12 million euros ($16.8 million), a
loan deal was the most likely option. Tottenham paid some $28
million for Pavlyuchenko last August.
Pavlyuchenko scored 14 times for Tottenham in his debut
season. However, the majority of these goals came in the
less-prestigious Carling Cup.
In other transfer news, Sport Express said that a deal to
take CSKA Moscow's Russian international Yury Zhirkov to
Chelsea could be concluded in the next 48 hours. The Russian
club could earn as much as $33 million from the transfer, the
paper said.
The attacking left midfielder / defender has been an
integral part of CSKA's and Russia's success over the past few
years, scoring the second goal in a 3-1 win over Sporting
Lisbon in the 2005 UEFA Cup final and starting every game in
Russia's run to the semifinals of Euro 2008.
He was recommended to the club by Russian national coach
Guus Hiddink, who managed Chelsea from February to the end of
the 2008/2009 season.
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