Anzhi Makhachkala: Serious Contender or Fad in European Football?

The year 2011 will be remembered as the year of Anzhi Makhachkala and its presence in European Football. Anzhi was founded in the early 1990's as the Soviet Union was nearing an end and Russia was reborn.

Anzhi Mackhachkala made news in the year 2011 with the signing of Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto'o to the fledging club. Anzhi has been filled with news or rumors about the possible signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho, Robin Van Persie, and Nicolas Anelka.

The primary reason for signing players from other clubs have been to increase the stature of Anzhi Makhachkala in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia. The other reason is to train future generations of Russian Football Players.

Anzhi Makhachkala is also associated with its owner Suleiman Kerymov who has the money to buy the players. The burning question of the day: Is Anzhi Makhachkala a serious contender or a fad in European Football?

The need for a discussion of the burning question brought together a meeting of minds in Bleacher Report.  The following Bleacher Report writers were invited to this latest round table discussion: Sam Tighe, A.J. Hasan, Jo-Ryan Salazar, Mohammed Al Hendy, and Obat Real Madrid Cipriani.

Let the slideshow and round table discussion begin.

I’m not prepared to call Anzhi a “fad”, because I don’t think they’re going to fade into mediocrity for as long as Suleyman Kerimov owns the club, but I believe they’re a long way away from being contenders, let alone "serious contenders", in Europe.

At present, Anzhi sit in eighth place in the RPL, fighting to hold onto the final spot in the Championship group. If Anzhi is struggling to even get into the top six domestically, how can they be expected to do anything impressive on the European stage?

Signing Samuel Eto’o, Yuri Zhirkov, Balázs Dzsudzsák and a number of other talented players may improve the quality of a team, but it does not guarantee results. Anzhi currently lack a quality coach after firing Gadzhi Gadzhiev, and their stadium only holds 20,000 people, hardly big enough for a team with ambitions as big as ones Anzhi harbors. The fact that the team has to fly 1,250 miles from Moscow to Makhachkala for all of its home games due to security concerns, raises serious questions about the sustainability of the team.

However, the future is bright for Anzhi. Reportedly, there are plans in the works for a new stadium that can hold 40,000+ spectators, and there is an ambitious project in place to create an Academy of Anzhi plus seven football centers in the Republic of Dagestan that will train professional athletes and hopefully also develop peace and stability in the region.

If Anzhi follow through with these ambitious projects, and find an ambitious manager who can truly utilize all the talent available in the Anzhi squad, Anzhi could easily become one of the most feared teams in Europe a couple of seasons or so from now.

They are a fad. Anzhi have a long way to go before they can even consider themselves a contender for any European honors.

I mean, look at where they are right now. They are in the middle of the Russian Premier League table.

They’re nobodies at this point. They have a long way to go before I can even consider them within even a sniff of Zenit’s, CSKA’s, or even Lokomotiv’s company.

In all honesty, I do not know much about Anzhi…Eto`o,Roberto Carlos,Zhirkov,Boussofa and Dzsudzsak are players of note on their squad.

The team train and lives in Moscow, but flies in for home games,because of security reasons I believe.
The club is owned by a billionaire.

To be a force the club needs domestic success, I guess with the type of investment that is coming in, they might think winning the domestic league is a possibilty within two years and qualification for the champions league in four.

Could they do it? Who knows? But only time could be the real judge as to if this club is a new force or a fad in European football.

For me Anzhi is a strange one. Of all the clubs, a Russian Billionaire would wish to purchase and subsequently turn into world-beaters, why Anzhi? They have no rich history and no leg-up on the competition.

Nevertheless, I do understand the owner Kerimov’s intention to create a Russian footballing force. He clearly wants to create a team that can rival the very best and he is prepared to pay through the nose to do it.

Some of the acquisitions they have made scream ambition. The only problem I can see for them is tackling the standard Russian Premier League rules which outline that you must field a certain amount of Russian players in the starting 11.

The recruitment policy so far has seen high profile names arrive at the Dinamo Stadium. Samuel Eto’o, Yuri Zhirkov, Roberto Carlos and the list goes on. But of their numerous talented recruits, not many have been Russian.

The suggestion is simple right? Spend big on a few more Russians! But it’s not easy to find Russian players who reach the standard set by the likes of Samuel Eto’o. Some of the younger quality Russians like Alan Dzagoev already play for some of the top clubs in the Russian Premier League too and are unlikely to be tempted to move over any time soon.

Anzhi Makhachkala are for real, yes, but it will take them longer to hit the heights than Kerimov may like. But they are battling a standard set by the Russian Premier League that can’t be avoided. Having watched a few games played by Anzhi, perhaps there is a need for some defensive recruits. You’d better make them Russian Kerimov!

I think Anzhi Makhachkala will just be a fad in Europe. They will not be the next Manchester City because most players who want to advance their career will go to Spain, England, or Germany, not Russia, so they can’t compete in terms of attracting new talent.

Also, they aren’t really making smart buys, as they are incredibly overpaying for aging stars and are focusing on deals which will never happen. They will not be able to compete with the powerhouses of CSKA Moscow or Zenit St. Petersburg either any time soon.

Anzhi Makhachkala will be discussed and monitored starting with 2011. Anzhi could have signed Russian players yet the preference for foreign players is evident.

Anzhi may be preparing for a new generation of players by using foreigners to train them. The possibility could be that Anzhi is preparing itself for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The round table discussion was divided evenly between Anzhi being a fad or a wait and see. The idea of a serious contender was discarded, since Anzhi could not be compared to big league players such as Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow.

Anzhi Makhachkala is currently in eighth place in the Russian Premier League tables. Anzhi has a long way to go in order to be at the same length as Zenit and CSKA Moscow.

The conclusion is that the club is in the right direction but there is a long road ahead. The long road ahead is not easy.

My thanks to Sam Tighe, Jo-Ryan Salazar, Mohamed Al-Hendy, A.J. Hasan, and Obat Realmadrid Cipriani for their participation in the roundtable discussion concerning Anzhi Makhachkala. Best wishes to the readers of Bleacher Report for taking the time to visit and read many of the interesting articles.