Anzhi rubbish rumours of 250 million bid for Messi

Anzhi Makhachkala have rubbished rumours linking them with a staggering 250 million bid for Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

Reports in Mundo Deportivo had suggested that the Argentina international had rejected earning 30m a season with the Russian club, after his buy-out clause was allegedly met.

However, their marketing consultant German Tkachenko quashed the story as totally false, and insisted that the side do not operate that way in the transfer market.

"There isn't a shred of truth in it," he told Russian newspaper Sport-Express.

"Asking a question about this, let alone writing about it, shows a lack of understanding about how Anzhi's sporting model is designed and what its principles and priorities are."

Spanish media reported that Messi not only dismissed the Russian offer, but duly signed a new contract tying him to the club until 2018.

Former Camp Nou striker Samuel Etoo, who played with Messi at Barca, made the switch from Spain to Russia, and is currently the highest paid footballer on the planet, on a reported 20m per year.

Dzagoev: Playing for Zeman would be a dream

CSKA Moscow youngster Alan Dzagoev says he would like to play under Roma coach Zdenek Zeman at some point in his career.

The Russian was in impressive form for his nation during Euro 2012, and is eager to make the move to Serie A in the future.

"Roma have a great young team with a great future and I think it'd be a great opportunity for me," he told the Corriere dello Sport.

"Just thinking about it seems like a dream. Everyone knows who Zeman is. They know he likes football, and his style would suit me as I'm an attacker.

"I like Italian football, I think I would fit in very well. I can play on both wings, I think I know how to combine technique and vision."

Russia is currently home to two Italian coaches, Luciano Spalletti of Zenit and Fabio Capello of the national team, and Dzagoev went on to voice his respect for both.

"Spalletti is a great coach. He has brought his wealth of experience an d adapted well to our football," he said.

"I've been working with [Capello] for four months. It soon became clear that he's a coach of the highest level."

Hulk defends decision to join Zenit St Petersburg

Hulk has defended his decision to leavePorto in the summer to join Zenit St Petersburg.

The Brazil striker joined the club for 50 million, but struggled to settle in his new surroundings, with his inconsistent form on the pitch marred by dressing-room disagreements.

However, the 26-year-old recently stated that he had resolved his differences with the club, and has now made it clear that he has no regrets over making the move from Portugal.

"I decided to go to Zenit because I had won almost every competition at Porto and I like new challenges in my career. I hope I can carry on winning like that in the near future," Hulk told O Estado de Sao Paolo.

"I am getting used to my new home. Now I need to focus on football. The biggest challenge in Russia was the cold weather at first but after playing games at -12, I think I am settling down quickly.

"We will fight for the title in the Russian league and try to w in the Europa League."

Zenit captain Igor Denisov publicly criticised the decision to spend huge sums on the Brazil attacker and midfielder Axel Witsel, but Hulk insists that such issues are now firmly in the past.

"He [Denisov] never said anything to me. They talked among themselves and the board did not like it because it became public. But that is in the past," Hulk continued.

"Today we have a good relationship. All this was overcome. We have no more problems."

Spartak Moscow deny De Boer approach

Spartak Moscow general manager Valeri Karpin has denied any attempt to lure Ajax boss Frank de Boer to the club.

The Dutch side's sporting director Marc Overmars told De Telegraaf that De Boer had been offered the head coach role, with a figure of 6 million a year mooted.

Karpin has taken temporary charge of the Russian club ever since Unai Emery's sacking in November, and he laughed off the suggestion that De Boer had been offered the job permanently.

"I was surprised by the news that I, as general manager, contacted Frank de Boer for the job," Valery Karpin told SovSport.

"To that alleged salary proposal I could only smile. Let's be clear about this: De Boer has never been approached by anyone at Spartak Moscow."

The Russian club were recently knocked out of the Champions League having been in the same group as Barcelona, Celtic and Benfica.

Goal.com's bumper festive quiz: Part two starring Cristiano Ronaldo

Temperatures may be plummeting but the Premier League season is certainly hotting up as the hectic Christmas programme of matches now hits full swing.

Away from the drama on the pitch and your traditional Christmas dinner at home, though, we have some more content to get your teeth into!

All in the name of some festive fun, Goal.com have produced a bumper festive quiz! We are running a mini-quiz every day from Monday to Friday, with pictures, trivia and football-based brainteasers.

Read on for part one and have a go at the questions, leaving your answers in the comments box below. Enjoy!

GUESS THE YEAR



What year was the above picture of Cristiano Ronaldo taken?

GUESS TH E LINK



What is the link between the three men in this picture?

GUESS THE KIT



Which team is this?

TRIVIA

Who is the only current Premier League player to have scored for six different top-flight teams?

Nicky Barmby, Les Ferdinand, Craig Bellamy, Marcus Bent, Andy Cole and Robbie Keane are the former Premier League players who have achieved the feat.

Check back on Wednesday for round three of our fun festive quiz!

Arshavin close to sealing 4m Reading move

EXCLUSIVE
By Wayne Veysey

Andrey Arshavin is close to sealing a 4 million move to Reading, Goal.com can reveal.

Arsenal have given the Russian permission to hold talks with the Premier League's bottom club and a deal is expected to be completed in the first week of the January window.

The Gunners and Reading are negotiating the fee, which is expected to be around the 4m mark although the north Londoners could try and hold out for 5m.

Sources have told Goal.com that Arshavin has played his last game for Arsenal and the transfer should be completed early in the window.

Arsene Wenger has sanctioned the sale of the 31-year-old, who has not started a Premier League game this season and has not figured at all since the manager fielded a weakened team for the Champions League trip to Olympiakos on December 4.

Fulham and Arshavin's former club Zenit St Petersb urg were also interested in signing him next month but Reading have made their move in a bid to arrest the club's freefall back into the Championship.

The deal has been sanctioned by Russian owner Anton Zingarevich, who was criticised by winger Jimmy Kebe last week for not buying enough players with Premier League experience in the summer.

Arsenal are keen to agree a straight sale rather than another loan in order to recoup some of their 15m outlay on the forward during the 2009 January window.

Although the former Russia captain spent his entire career at Zenit before joining Arsenal and returned to Saint Petersburg for a second spell on loan last season, his preference is to remain near London.

Arshavin and his family are settled in the capital and would prefer to extend their time in England rather than head permanently back to Russia.

The winger is set to link up at the Madejski Stadium with his countryman, Pavel Pogr ebnyak, who was made the highest paid player in Reading's history when he joined from Fulham on a salary believed to be worth 60,000 a week.

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Overmars: De Boer turned down chance coach Spartak Moscow

Ajax sporting director Marc Overmars has revealed that head coach Frank de Boer has turned down the chance to move to Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow.

The 42-year-old has impressed in his first coaching role since taking over at Ajax from Martin Jol in 2010, leading the Amsterdam giants to back-to-back league titles, and was targeted by Spartak last month after they sacked their Spanish coach Unai Emery.

"Spartak Moscow wanted [De Boer] to take over immediately and some clubs see him as the ideal trainer for next summer. But he has no interest," Overmars told De Telegraaf.

After seeing the former Netherlands international turn them down, Spartak have once again turned to director of football Valery Karpin to take over as caretaker manager until the end of the season.

This is the second time that Karpin has taken the Spartak hotseat on a temporary basis. In 2009 he replaced Michael Laudrup, now manager of Swansea City, after poor run of results and stayed in charge until May this year when Emery was hired.

Ajax, who play Utrecht on Sunday, currently lie third in the Eredivisie table, four points behind leaders PSV.