Barca back off from Arshavin

ZENIT ST PETERSBURG have ended talks with Barcelona over the transfer of Andrei Arshavin due to the Catalan giants' failure to meet their asking price.

The 27-year-old, who played a starring role for Guus Hiddink's Russia as they reached the Euro 2008 semi-finals last month, has spoken of his "dream" to move to the Nou Camp.

Barca are so far the only club to have made an official approach for the playmaker, but Russian champions Zenit revealed talks had come to an end today after the Spanish outfit refused to increase their bid.

"Barcelona failed to improve their original offer of 15 million euros," Zenit revealed in a statement. "We have therefore decided to end our negotiations with Barcelona.

"We have received no offers for Arshavin from any other clubs, so there are no discussions taking place about his transfer."