Anzhi Makhachkala Shops Around for Robin Van Persie and Nicolas Anelka

Anzhi Makhachkala have announced that they want to add Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) and Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea) to their roster. Roberto Carlos (Anzhi Makhachkala's interim coach) made the announcement which was subsequently published on Sportingnews.com.

Roberto Carlos also talked about signing Nene from Paris St. Germain and adding more people to Anzhi's roster. It appears that Anzhi Makhachkala has a lot of money to spend in its shopping spree for players.

Suleyman Kerimov (Anzhi Makhachkala's owner and billionaire businessman) and Roberto Carlos have also expressed a desire to sign Neymar, Maicon, Gattuso, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho to the club. Anzhi has signed Roberto Carlos, Samuel Eto'o, Diego Tardelli, Yuri Zhirkov and Jucilei Da Silva in the past.

Why is Anzhi Makhachkala in its current shopping spree for players from other European clubs? The first reason is that Anzhi (a club founded in 1991) wants to insert itself gradually in the big leagues of European leagues.

The second reason is that Russia will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The significance of Russia hosting the World Cup is that many clubs in the country (including Anzhi) wants to reap the benefits of the historic event which will unfold.

The last reason is that in order to be a powerhouse, a new generation of players need to receive training. The older generation of European football stars can train an emerging generation of Russian football athletes to carry the sport in Russia towards the next generation.

It remains to be seen whether Van Persie and Anelka will respond to the offer from Roberto Carlos and Anzhi Makhachkala.