The blazing 30 degree sun at Dubai Sports City couldn’t be further from what the Anzhi Makhachkala players are used to.
Back in Russia, the team are used to training in sub zero temperatures as the cash rich club try to plot a course through Europe. Armed with a super rich sugar daddy in Suleyman Kerimov, Anzhi have spent big in an attempt to establish themselves amongst the European elite.
Rather than catching eyes with glamorous stadia and glamorous football, the Russians have been in the back of the elite’s minds since they splashed an unholy amount of money to prize European Cup winner Samuel Eto’o from Inter Milan; offering the Cameroonian €20 million after tax per season for three years.
But in an age where virtually every country has a major club or two owned by a super ambitious, super wealthy billionaire, few broke out into sweats around the major European leagues.
In time, however, the Russians have started to spend more carefully, if not quite so frugally. The signing of Brazilian playmaker Willian from Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk has shown a commitment to youth while the club have started to plunder its bottomless funds into a new stadium and training facilities as well as a brand new youth academy.
To pilot the new ship that plans to chart a course through Europe, Anzhi hired one of those most respected managers in the business; Guus Hiddink.
Genial, irreverent, inspirational and mercurial, Hiddink is a legendary figure in almost every club or country he has worked in. But he hasn’t usually stuck around long enough to receive too much criticism.
The nomadic career of Hiddink and the long-term planning of Anzhi seem to be in stark contrast, but whatever happens of the Dutchman, he believes the club are on the right track after a difficult start.
“When we started a year ago it was relatively chaotic within the team and around the team,” Hiddink said. “And in a year I think the club have done very well. (We) have done a good job of making this a serious team not only in Russia but Europe.
"Also image-wise people in Russia and Europe, people take the club more seriously now because the approach inside the club is serious, and that’s what I like within a year.”
The final point is as serious as Anzhi intend to be taken. The club haven’t been far from controversy since they joined the footballing landscape two years ago.
Based in civil war-torn Dagestan, Anzhi’s owner Kerimov’s reputation has come under scrutiny, forcing unfavourable headlines about how he acquired his money. While teams like Chelsea and Manchester City immediately drew fear when they acquired a billionaire owner, Anzhi have been treated as something to be less afraid of and their wild spending seen almost as an eccentricity.
Now, however, they are in the Europa League last-32 taking on Premier League side Newcastle United. Hiddink insists the club have a new philosophy of sustainability and gradual improvement, two things that worry clubs more than boom-and-bust spending.
“(We are taken seriously) not just because we have money and we just buy, buy, buy. That is not our philosophy,” said Hiddink. “Obviously we buy, you see Willian, but that’s future-orientated because he is a boy of 23 years-old so the club has changed it’s philosophy and strategy and professionalism.
“The new stadium is built and the academy has been constructed, it’s becoming a club now, day-by-day, a professional club. If we go further in Europe it will be beautiful but first let’s try mixing ourselves in the four Moscow clubs and Zenit in between.”
The rest of Europe have been warned; ignore Anzhi at your peril.
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