Zenit St Petersburg claim they have lowered their asking price for Andrei Arshavin to clear the path for the Russia forward to move to Tottenham.

Spurs were originally told the 27-year-old, who starred at Euro 2008 for his country, would cost upwards of £20million and no fee was agreed between the clubs.

Arshavin, encouraged by a conversation with Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos, is willing to join Spurs after initially declaring Barcelona as his preferred destination.

Spurs are in the market for strikers following the departure of Robbie Keane to Liverpool and Dimitar Berbatov wanting to leave White Hart Lane Lane for Manchester United. Arshavin would be seen as a like-for-like replacement for Keane.

"There are only small differences left," Zenit sporting director Konstantin Sarsaniya told Russian newspaper Sovetsky Sport, who suggested a deal could be concluded over the weekend.

"Zenit have decided to reduce the asking price for Andrei, but exactly how much I cannot say because the negotiations were led by Zenit president Alexander Dyukov."

Should Berbatov leave, Ramos would be left with Darren Bent as his only out-and-out striker, with new signing Giovani dos Santos as possible support for the attack.

Ramos has also been linked earlier in the summer with a move for Arshavin's Russia team-mate Roman Pavlyuchenko. More recently Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz has been suggested as a possible target.

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