Redknapp: Pavlyuchenko staying put
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has quashed rumours linking striker Roman Pavlyuchenko with a move away from White Hart Lane.
Pavlyuchenko scored 14 times in 36 appearances in all competitions last season, including netting in every round of the Carling Cup apart from the final.
But after only one season in English football following his £14 million move from Spartak Moscow last September, the Russian front-man finds himself fourth choice at White Hart Lane behind Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and new summer signing Peter Crouch.
The 27-year-old recently revealed that he may have to leave Spurs in search of regular first-team football ahead of next year's World Cup in South Africa, with Stuttgart, Roma and his former employers Spartak Moscow keen on recruiting him.
However, Redknapp has since rubbished claims that the front-man has instructed his agent to find him a move away from North London.
"His people came down the training ground yesterday, they wanted to have a meeting with me to talk about him," he told Sky Sports.
"He doesn't want to go and they don't want him to go. He's very happy.
"His only concern was missing out on the World Cup as he needs to play for Russia but it wasn't a case of him wanting to leave.
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"He's got no issues with the club, he's very happy in London, happy at the club. I don't think anything's going to happen.
"The feedback I had from him and his people was that he didn't want to go so I don't see him going. I'd like to keep him."
Pavlyuchenko did his first team opportunities no harm on Wednesday night, scoring in Spurs’ 5-1 demolition of Championship side Doncaster Rovers in the Carling Cup.
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
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