Anzhi Makhachkala in Hot Pursuit of AC Milan's Gennaro Gattuso

Aznhi Makhachkala (one of the Russian clubs emerging in world football) has expressed an interest in Gennaro Gattuso who is the AC Milan midfielder. The news (as reported in Sky Sports and Footballpress.net) was confirmed by Andrea D'Amico (Gattuso's agent) in an interview with Sportitalia.

The interest by Anzhi Makhachkala in Gattuso comes after the signing of Samuel Eto'o and Roberto Carlos to the club. Anzhi appears to have wanted Gattuso since the beginning of 2011.

Gattuso's contract with AC Milan is due to expire after the 2011-2012 season. Anzhi has been involved in talks with Gattuso's agents but there have been no decisions made concerning any possible transfer.

It is also expected that there could be conversations between Adriano Galliani (AC Milan Vice President) concerning any transactions between Anzhi and Gattuso's agent. I often wonder if Suleiman Kerimov (Anzhi's owner) would talk with Silvio Berlusconi (AC Milan's owner) but that is not a possibility.

What could happen if Gennaro Gattuso were to sign with Anzhi Makhachkala? Russia is not always an easy country to play international football, as witnessed by Roberto Carlos.

In March 2011, Anzhi Makhachkala played a match against Zenit St. Petersburg with Roberto Carlos present. One of the spectators in the match threw a banana at Roberto Carlos in a racist and anti-sport spirit.

While Russia is taking strides to reduce (or eliminate) racism in its international football matches, Gattuso had problems during the UEFA Champions League match between AC Milan and the Tottenham Hotspur in February 2011.

Gattuso grabbed Joe Jordan (Tottenham Hotspur Assistant Manager) by the neck after the two got into an altercation. Gattuso then proceeded to head-butt Jordan and was forced to apologize.

UEFA later handed Gattuso a four match ban for his behavior during the match. It remains to be seen whether Gattuso will be at Russia and for how long.