Arsenal icon looks unrecognisable drinking German beer 12 years after leaving club

A player who was once Arsenal's record signing is virtually unrecognisable 16 years on from his £15million move to the Emirates. Having commanded a fee of that size, sparked huge excitement when he signed his contract, and scored four goals in one memorable game at Anfield in 2009, Andrey Arshavin was living a life most could only dream of.

Now, he seemingly goes about his business in a more modest fashion. Donning an ill-fitting cap and a bog-standard pair of black-rimmed glasses, Arshavin has been snapped enjoying a stein of beer and a German food spread with his pals. And just from appearance alone, it would be hard to guess that he once tore up the Premier League and gave Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina nightmares after putting a hat-trick past him on Merseyside, and then another screamer for good measure.

With a slight build and an unassuming outfit, Arshavin could blend into just about any crowd 12 years after his departure from the Gunners, and seven years since he called time on his professional career.

The Russian is now 44 years old, and he spent all of his playing days in his homeland aside from the four years at Arsenal which made him a Premier League cult hero, and a three-season stint in Kazakhstan just before he hung up his boots.

Arshavin did not win a single trophy during his time in north London but he did finish with a more than respectable record of 31 goals in 144 games.

Arsenal snapped up Arshavin after a long-running transfer saga, 12 months on from his UEFA Cup triumph with Zenit. The Russian club, who Vladimir Putin supported as a boy, are believed to have stood firm on their £15m valuation - a hefty fee at the time - under the president's orders.

As the winter deadline closed in, the Gunners drafted in then-shareholder Alisher Usmanov to secure a breakthrough. Agent Jon Smith wrote in his autobiography 'The Deal': "Technically, we might not have been given permission [to speak to Arshavin].

"But that's my job for a club and player at any given time. I am the bridge that the club can't cross. In most cases of employment exchanges in any walk of life, the potential employee and employer have had some sort of prior connection.

"There has to be a person ready to break the conventional ethical boundary of not pinching other people's staff and actually make contact. So we do sometimes facilitate that in football."

Arshavin's move was confirmed the day after the window closed, and he scored six goals in 12 Premier League games to round off the season.