Unsettled Russian had no say in £14m move

Casual racist Sergei Rebrov wasn’t the only one who didn’t want Roman Pavlyuchenko to move to London - according to his mummy Lyubov, the man himself never wanted to leave his home nation:

“Roman was sold by the club,” she said. “He didn’t want to go to England or leave Russia. It was 100 per cent Spartak Moscow’s decision to sell him.”

And reports in Russia suggest that CSKA president Yevgeni Giner has now called the 26-year-old to say he is welcome back at his former club should he wish to leave London.

Confident her son will be back on home soil sooner rather than later, Lyubov said: “I know for sure he’s ready to return to Russia anytime.”

The Telegraph claim that Pavlyuchenko was on the verge of signing for another Russian club (most likely Lokomotiv Moscow) when Spurs and their giant chequebook swooped in, and that he has failed to adapt to life in London.

Is this new found home sickness the reason for his ineffectiveness in the North London derby?

Redknapp’s plans to play the reserves might need altering

While all four still stand a strong chance of progressing, the Premier League’s UEFA Cup hopefuls Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Tottenham and Manchester City all drew interesting group stage opposition.

Harry Redknapp spoke about fielding reserves in some games but may rethink that policy when they clash with overwhelming tournament favourites AC Milan while Aston Villa will be challenged by Martin Jol’s Bundesliga table-toppers Hamburg and Marco van Basten’s Ajax.

Tottenham drew two teams whose star players they raided this summer - Luka Modric’s former side Dinamo Zagreb and Roman Pavlyuchenko’s old club Spartak Moscow while Manchester City will face off against Steve McClaren’s FC Twente in one of the toughest groups.

The good news for the Premier League representatives were that all four avoided Sevilla, Valencia and Standard Liege, who are three of the top four non-English clubs in the betting. The full draw is after the jump.

Berbatov replacement arrives at the Lane

The first big business on deadline day has seen Tottenham sign Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko for £14 million, prompting speculation that Dimitar Berbatov’s move to Manchester United is imminent.

But if Berbatov is to go then Spurs will surely need more than just Darren Bent, who struggled in his first season, and the Russian forward, who will probably need a settling in period. Will Spurs be forced into making another purchase today, or settle for what they’ve got?

Let us know what you think with a comment below.

In Saturday’s fiercely-competitive Moscow derby between Spartak and Lokomotiv, a topless fan fancied a piece of the action. Spartak were 2-1 down at the time, and defender Radoslav Kováč decided to take the intruder out of play the only way he knew how.

For his assistance in removing the extra man from the field, Kováč received a yellow card. Frankly, he was lucky: a tackle from behind with no attempt to play the ball should really be a straight red.

[Marca]