Roman Pavlyuchenko is set to enrage Tottenham by travelling to the remote Russian city of Stavropol in his role as a local politician.

Stavropol governor Valeri Gaievski has invited him to come for a special session on sports development next month and the region's annual Football Festival in December.

Pavlyuchenko is determined to fulfil his duties as a politician in Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, but he would have to miss nearly three days' training in London.

He said recently: "Despite the need for me to be in Britain often, I'm not going to be absent from Stavropol for long."

He is planning to leave London just three days before Spurs' clash with Manchester United on December 13.

And with flights to Stavropol taking eight hours each way, he is likely to be exhausted by the time he returns.

A Russian source said: "They would be mad to let him go. But who's going to argue with Vladimir Putin?"

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