Here was a player who seemed to have it all: speed, vision, touch and that familiar low-slung disco strut of the genuine star, the ball seeming to roll somehow more kindly, more adhesively at their princely little feet. Arshavin went on to lead Russia into the semi-finals. And this was it: a world star in the offing. Barcelona tried to buy him before he went to Arsenal. He was 28. He was ready. Or at least, that was the idea anyway.

Farewell Andrey Arshavin, the footballing god who fell to earth - The Guardian