Andrei Arshavin's transfer to Arsenal was not completed before the transfer deadline on Monday, according to several reports.
The deal was officially ratified by the Premier League on Tuesday afternoon, but several newspapers claim that Zenit St Petersburg's paperwork was not filed before the 5pm deadline on Monday.
The Guardian suggests that some of Zenit's forms were not submitted in time, while there are 'suggestions that there was a slight issue with Arsenal's submissions'.
The Premier League offered a suitably ambiguous statement about the deal, with a spokesman saying:
"Substantively the deal was done before the deadline. It was lodged with us prior to the transfer window closing and we were satisfied that the deal was done it time."
Furthermore, an FA spokesman said: "We have been liaising with the Premier League and are satisfied that everything is in order."
The Daily Mail suggests that several of Arsenal's main rivals are 'sure to demand a more detailed explanation' of why the deal was allowed to go through, if the paperwork was not filed in time.
Deals that have not strictly complied with transfer deadlines have been allowed to go through in the past, such as Benjani's move from Portsmouth to Manchester City last January (a deal that was not confirmed for several days), as well as the swap deal taking Ashley Cole to Chelsea and William Gallas to Arsenal in 2006.
Source football365.com
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