Anzhi Makhachkala – Proof That Spending Billions May Not Protect A Club
It is an argument that has been rumbling on for a number of years now, ever since Roman Abramovich took charge of Chelsea. He introduced a system of spending a huge sum of money on players to completely change the team which in turn will make them a success. As we all know, Chelsea did succeed. The old system of developing the core of the team while spending money wisely in order to improve your options changed after this event -now teams who want to challenge for the biggest trophies must spend big in order to get there. Arsenal are an example of how spending little, yet wanting to challenge for the biggest trophies, has it’s obvious flaws.
However, a team like Arsenal – who are not reliant on their owners – will not suffer the way Anzhi are at the moment because they have generated their money through player sales and sponsorship deals. But teams like PSG, Monaco and Manchester City will feel the effects if their owner can’t provide for their team.
Anzhi are the current example of what could happen if a team reliant on their owners who suddenly can’t provide anymore; the Russian outfit have been forced to put all their big stars up for sale, including Samuel Eto’o and Willian. Players like that are crucial for a team like Anzhi who had big ambitions. Anzhi will still have money to spend but their policy of ‘buy players for extravagant fees and offer them astronomical wages’ are most certainly over.
There are a number of theories surrounding the owners sudden change of heart including the run of bad results which ended up with Rene Meulensteen getting sacked after just 16 days in charge. But problems off the field could have equally been as damaging. The owner, Suleyman Kerimov, reportedly ran into financial difficulties in one of his main business outlets resulting in mass sums of money removed from his company.
Whatever the problem could be, it has certainly left Anzhi in a fragile state but with player sales and wages wiped clean off the slate it could provide financial stability in the near future.
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