Zenit St Petersburg Bombarded With Direct Messages Begging To Sign Phil Jones Or Shkodran Mustafi

Russian club Zenit St Petersburg have been inundated with requests to sign Manchester United centre-back Phil Jones and Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi.

Fans are clearly on the lookout for defensive reinforcements, and after the Russian Premier League side opened their Twitter DM's to the public, hundreds of supporters bombarded the official account with transfer advice.

Zenit's account soon tweeted about the activity, saying:

"We leave our DMs open to be nice and all we get is messages asking how many retweets for Phil Jones or Mustafi..."

The Russian transfer window will slam shut on September 2, so Zenit manager Sergei Semak still has plenty of time to bring in the Premier League pair.

In fact, a number of supporters requested a number of other names from England's top flight, including Manchester United full-back Ashley Young and Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana.

Not to mention wantaway winger Alexis Sanchez, who is reportedly ready to leave Old Trafford in the coming days.

Image: Premier League

Zenit did actually respond to one fan who requested the club sign error prone defender Shkodran Mustafi, but it wasn't exactly positive news for the Arsenal supporter.

He asked: "How many retweets for you to buy Mustafi from Arsenal?" and the club simply replied: "Absolutely not."

Despite the general negative response from fans about Mustafi's performances of late, the centre-back has bragging rights over Manchester United's Harry Maguire when it comes to stat comparisons last season.

Both Mustafi and Maguire played 31 matches each and their respective sides conceded 40 times while they were playing.

And that's where the two defenders are equal in stats, with the German international outdoing the world's most expensive defender in many other aspects.

PA

Mustafi had much higher interceptions, percentage of tackles won and clearances compared to Maguire.

Here are the stats from last season:

Blocks: Maguire, 18; Mustafi, 17

Interceptions: Maguire, 37; Mustafi, 58

Tackles: Maguire, 31; Mustafi, 62

Tackles won: Maguire, 17; Mustafi, 45

Percentage of tackles won: Maguire, 55 per cent; Mustafi, 73 per cent

Clearances: Maguire, 152; Mustafi, 161

Headed clearances: Maguire, 77; Mustafi, 106

Aerial duels won: Maguire, 118; Mustafi, 123

Would you like to see Phil Jones or Shkodran Mustafi in the Russian Premier League this season?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Football News, Football, Manchester United, Phil Jones, Transfers, Arsenal, Shkodran Mustafi, Russia

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_