Every time there’s a bit tournament, some rising star from a ‘lesser’ football nation will get a lot of interest from big clubs. Alan Dzagoev of CSKA Moscow and Russia, scoring three goals during the group stage, is one of them, drawing heavy interest from both Arsenal and Tottenham, among other clubs.
This isn’t the first we’ve heard of Arsenal’s interest in the 22 year old player, with Arsene Wener complementing him and querying about him after Dzagoev’s three goals in the first two matches of the tournament against the Czech Republic and later Poland. But Arsenal have been busy, regardless of future developments.
Lukas Podolski, who didn’t have the best of Euro tournaments and seasons in general, going down with FC Koln despite his 18 league goals in 29 matches, came over from the Bundesliga for a fee of just under £11 million. Wenger went on to strengthen the attack and possibly preparing himself for the Robin van Persie departure, signing Olivier Giroud of Montpellier for £12 million. Giroud hardly showed his face during the Euro for France, but did lead Ligue 1 in scoring last season.
Tottenham, so far, have only been in the selling business and trying to keep players at White Hart Lane. Both Niko Kranjcar (to Dynamo Kiev) and Vedran Corluka (Lokomtiv Moscow) were let go for £5.5 million, while Louis Saha has been released. The main priority for Daniel Levy at the moment is keeping Luka Modric at the club, especially drawn to outer regions as the Croatian colony crumbled in North London, while Gareth Bale is also looking sideways at Champions League football.
Alan Dzagoev’s father confirmed that CSKA have been approached by several clubs regarding Dzagoev, who’s price could be around £15 million. He says he isn’t sure whether moving to England at the moment is the best option for him, giving Yuri Zhirkov’s Chelsea experience as an example, where Zhirkov spent most of the time sitting on the bench. Borussia Dortmund, looking for a replacement for Shinji Kagawa, might also be in the market for the young Russian.
Tottenham are about to complete their first signing of the summer, regardless of the developments in the Dzagoev front, with Icelandic Gylfi Sigurdsson preferring Spurs to Liverpool, as the Reds stepped away from his over the top salary demands, according to the sources near the transfer. Tottenham will probably pay something around £10 million for the Hoffenheim midfielder, who impressed many during his half-season for Swansea last year.