Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave his blessing to Andrei Arshavin's drawn-out move to Arsenal.

The Daily Mail says Arshavin's departure from Zenit St Petersburg was not only overseen by senior executives from power giant Gazprom - who sponsor the Russian club - but Putin also took a close personal interest.

Putin, who grew up in St Petersburg, even took time out to meet with Arshavin in the week prior to the 27-year-old's medical to give his blessing to the deal.

It has also emerged that part of the delay in completing the £15m transfer - which extended beyond the transfer deadline - was caused by a faulty fax machine at Zenit.