Zenit bombarded with messages begging them to sign Phil Jones or Mustafi

Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg have been bombarded with messages from supporters, urging them to sign Phil Jones from Manchester United and Arsenal's Shkodran Mustafi.

Zenit took the bold move to briefly open their private messages via social media platform Twitter, in order to allow their 44,000 followers to get in touch.

Perhaps to be expected, many fans quickly dropped the club a line by urging for certain players to be signed up before the closure of the transfer window, yet two names stuck out more than most others.

With Zenit on the lookout for defensive reinforcements, many fans have spotted the availability of Premier League duo Phil Jones and Shkodran Mustafi.

Both players have fallen down the pecking order at Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, and could be set to depart.

Messages quickly came flooding in, with many users asking Zenit 'how many retweets' would be needed in order for them to launch a bid.

Seeing the funny side of things, the social media account of the Russian side screenshotted several of the messages, before posting them online for all to see.

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

While Jones and Mustafi emerged as the most common requests, some supporters also asked for a variety of Premier League names.

One fan asked the club to sign Liverpool's Adam Lallana, while another suggested Ashley Young of United.

The European deadline for the summer transfer window is set to close in early September, giving teams a short while remaining to get deals done.