Anzhi Makhachkala on Wednesday fired coach Rene Meulensteen just 16 days after he was appointed as the club’s Chairman announced via Twitter that he was cutting theclub’s budget in half. “The truth is that we will be reformatting the way Anzhi is run,” Chairman Konstantin Remchukov tweeted. “Many expensive players will leave.The budget will be $50-$70 million dollars (per year).
In addition to former Manchester United assistant coach Meulensteen, the likes of striker Samuel Eto’o (whotakes nearly $26.4 million home after tax), forward Willian (who was only purchased in January), and defender Chris Samba (who was just repurchased this summer),could leave, despite the club already spending more than $77.6 million this summer on new players.
Billionaire Suleyman Kerimov bought Anzhi in 2011 and has since spentheavily on improving the squad with high-profile additions. Last season the club finished third, its highest ever position in the Russian Premier League table. However, Chairman Remchukov has nowannounced via Twitter that the club is adopting a more frugal approach.