So That’s How Arsenal Could Afford Arshavin….

By: chris | February 3rd, 2009

The Andrei Arshavin deal was reported as nearly done days and days ago, and yet it’s taken through and past the transfer deadline (due to the extenuating circumstances of the English weather) to get it done. Right now we’re still awaiting confirmation, but looks like he’ll be official sometime soon.

Coincidence that the day the deal was completed Arsenal launched their own version of Football Manager? I think not.

Because the normal Football Manager doesn’t allow for official club crests or official team photos in the Prem, Arsenal have released their own edition to ~~further separate fools from their money~~ give their fans the chance to further envelope themselves in the Gunner experience. So now instead of a blank generic silhouette, you get to stare at Bakary Sagna’s poor choice in hairstyling or Johan Djourou’s meticulously crafted eyelashes.

Not exactly the most brilliant masterstroke from Arsenal, releasing this one the very day they will be signing one of the biggest names on their roster (unless AA is already on there, which actually would be a masterstroke). Not to mention releasing it, oh, 3 months after the game has already been released, when most fans have already “purchased” (ahem) their copy.

Why spend another £19.99 (ahem) when you’ve already got one in the bag?

Arshavin, that’s why. Because this is how they’re going to pay his mammoth salary. Yessir. And if you’re a real fan, you’ll definitely want to help with that. After that they’ve got some sweet vineyards in northern Russia you should get in on.

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Category: World Football

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PCam

Guys, The Arsenal version of FM was released several weeks ago to coincide with Christmas. I am in Australia, purchased it from online and have been playing for 4-5 weeks already...
sandrahn

This is just a typically lame wind-up from Chris, people, he does this kind of thing all the time.
Hypernovae

What a load of guff... It was announced on the SI forums weeks ago that an Arsenal version of FM2009 was in the pipeline... hardly funding a move for Arshavin... Besides which, even if you assume that Arsenal make 50% of the cost of buying the game (which they won't), they'd still have to sell 250,000 copies to raise the £2.5M that was believed to be the sticking point in Arshavin's contract...
ish

Wenger still raid's france for quality but at the moment the cheapest and best players usually are of african descent. The true french players all have higher values put on their heads in the french league cause they are seen as emblems of the club. Same goes for chelsea who also has quite a few african players most of them were either playing in netherlands or france.
martin

Thanks Daryl, got there first. Its one of the first things I do when I get a new version of FM it makes the game feel much more authentic / complete. You can add the missing shirts too.
Gooner4life&beyond

What the hell is wrong with some people? Their racist views are so blatant. Wenger has not ONCE brought in a youngster from Africa, they have all been at least 20 years old. He has brought in more players from France than anywhere else, but it is never mentioned, only the Africans. Kanu, Toure, Adebayor, Lauren, Eboue, they are about the only Africans to play under Wenger and only two of them would any sane person have a problem with. How many French players??? Remi Garde, Grimandi, Vieira, Cygan, Pires, Petit, Anelka, Gallas, Silvestre, Nasri, Clichy, Sagna and whoever else. Some so called fans are a disgrace.
sandrahn

Where do you get this "massive salary"? In Russia he was earning 90K a week, at Arsenal he's climbed down to 70K, that's 10,000 less than Gallas and Ade. At Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea, that's chump change.
Daryl

BMatthews, Matt,

You have to download the images from an external source and then add them into your files.

There are plenty of "face packs" and "logo packs" all over the internet.

Here's an example, with instructions:

http://www.fmscout.com/a-eu_cl...
Paul

lol arsenal edition.. so i guess you can only buy 14 year olds from Africa... does wenger whine a lot in the game too?
Matt

I second BMatthews question martin...
BMatthews

how do you add the crests martin? Not that it bothers me because i've mostly been playing the SPL now, but it would really round out the game for me.
martin

You can actually add pictures and crests without much effort for free...