DAGASTANIAN HOPEFULS ANZHI Makachkala may well be one of the wealthiest teams in European football at the moment, a fact that current joint-manager Roberto Carlos hopes will see the side become “a club of the calibre of Real Madrid or Barcelona.”
Speaking to the BBC about the club’s prospects, Carlos intimated his desire to see a handful of major international stars join the squad over the coming months, among them PSG’s Nenê, Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie and Nicolas Anelka.
Anzhi’s players currently live and train in Moscow for security reasons (Dagestan shares a border with Chechnya), travelling over 1,250 miles to play home matches. The Brazilian, however, doesn’t see that inconvenience as a significant deterrant, a fact he made clear while discussing the prospects of his compatriot Neymar.
“If Real, Barca or Manchester United cannot pay the transfer fee, we will pay it. Suleyman Kerimov can offer what he wants.”
If the owner’s means aren’t quite limitless, they are impressive. The latest in a series of Russian billionaires “encouraged” to take a role in the development of domestic sport, Kerimov’s net worth is estimated to lie somewhere in the region of $7.8 billion.
The billionaire has already financed a handful of big-money signings, including the shock signing of Samuel Eto’o from Inter, and the building of a new stadium in Makachkala.
