Zenit St. Petersburg are considering a bid to bring Arsenal midfielder Andrei Arshavin back to his old football club, coach Luciano Spalletti said Friday.
Arshavin spent the latter part of last season with Zenit after failing to hold down a first-team place at Arsenal, helping the Russian club to a second consecutive title, and is hugely popular with fans in his hometown of St. Petersburg.
Although the diminutive forward went back to London last month after the loan deal expired, Spalletti said Arshavin remains in their transfer plans.
"Arshavin is one of the names we're discussing,” Spalletti was quoted as saying by the club's website when asked about rumours of a bid for the 31-year-old.
"It is absolutely definite that if he returned then he'd play just as well as he did last year."
Spalletti has been put in charge of the club’s transfers this summer after two years without big signings, and signalled Zenit would become more adventurous.
“We’re definitely going to buy players,” he said.
“Four transfer windows have passed already and we’ve signed just one player, so this time we should make acquisitions.”
Arshavin had an average showing at Euro 2012, where his country crashed out in the group stage with a shock 0-1 defeat to Greece.
He has 74 caps for Russia and has scored 17 international goals.
Arshavin was drafted in by Spalletti in February to replace injured Portuguese playmaker Miguel Danny, and is contracted to Arsenal until next summer.