Four years ago, Andrei Arshavin's magic play made him one of the takeaways from Euro 2008. His performance in Russia's quarter-final win over Holland was particularly impressive. When Arsenal signed him right after Euro 2008, it was to the envy of many clubs, especially after he scored 4 goals in one game at Anfield. However, something along the way did not click. Too often Arshavin has seemed disinterested, either for his poor fitness, or morale, or because the club is not utilizing him in the right way. After Arsenal recently loaned Arshavin to his former club Zenit St-Petersburg on a loan, he has started to perform much better for his old club. Wether it was a lack of action, or simply homesickness, Arshavin was not himself, particularly towards the latter stages of his tenure at Arsenal. A lack of match action was undeniably true towards the end of Arshavin's time at Arsenal, as he managed only 84 minutes of playing time between the Fa cup tie against Leeds on January 4th and the end of February, but he was struggling even before a lack of playing time. Arshavin never seemed to regain the form he showed in 2008, but his recent surge has reminded everyone why we fell in love with him in the first place. Perhaps, a return home is what Arshavin really needed.
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