Manchester City’s solid start to the 2011-2012 campaign has indicated their intentions to challenge for honours on both a domestic and continental front and for the first time since the arrival of Sheikh Mansour in 2008, the Citizens have a squad that many tip as capable of doing so.
The Citizens transformation from wealthy outsiders to serious contenders may have taken a couple of seasons and some serious investment, but elsewhere there are a number of other clubs from all corners of the globe who with serious cash injections are looking to reshape the axis of power within the modern game.
Whether or not these teams do transpire to become serious contenders for the games top honours, early signs are encouraging as they flood their starting elevens with established talent as well as exciting youngsters destined to make a big impact in the game.
One grand project already taking huge strides is the takeover of Paris St Germain by Qatari Sports Investments.
The group secured a successful takeover of the club back in June and have already made several impressive moves in their bid to wake the traditional sleeping giant of French football.
The ambition and drive of the new owners was clearly enough to impress then Inter Milan manager Leonardo, as he vacated his role at the San Siro to become PSG’s new Sporting Director, the club where he spent a year as a player during the 1996-1997 season.
Leonardo has already overseen a number of high-profile signings including Blaise Matuidi, Jeremy Menez, Mohammed Sissoko and Javier Pastore.
The signings of Javier Pastore was seen by many as particularly poignant given the fact that PSG pipped several established clubs to the highly-rated young Argentine international’s signature. PSG beat off the likes of Inter, AC Milan and Chelsea in the race for Pastore, a remarkable feat for a team not even competing in this seasons Champions League.
The draws of PSG were simple. Paris is the fifth biggest city in Europe and features many iconic images that have made the city so recognisable and such a desirable destination for millions of tourists each year. PSG is the only professional club within the city and the new owners hope to tap into the vast potential for the city to boast a team capable for consistently challenging for not only Ligue 1, but also the Champions League.
Much further East from glamorous Paris is another team turning heads as a result of some huge financial assistance. This team is Anzhi Makhachkala.
Anzhi Makhachkala are funded by oligarch Suleiman Kerimov and are an entirely different case from PSG considering that Anzhi boast no geographical potential and have little footballing tradition, only narrowly avoiding relegation from the Russian Premier Division last season.
Anzhi hail from the Southern region of Dagestan, a poor and troubled area still deemed dangerous enough to warrant the squad to be based in Moscow and only making the 1,000 mile trip to the region for home games.
Doubters have levelled criticism that Kerimov’s investment in Anzhi is for political gain, but nobody can doubt that the club can now boast some exciting talent within their ranks.
The first signing of this new era was veteran full-back Roberto Carlos and while the Brazilian may not have many games left in him as a professional footballer, the signing certainly helped raise the profile of Anzhi, seemingly opening the floodgates for a number of other top players who have since joined the club.
Also now in the ranks are former Chelsea man and Russian international Yuri Zhirkov, Brazilian hotshot Diego Tardelli, playmaker Mbark Bousouffa, former PSV man and Hungarian international Balazs Dzsudzsak and most notably Samuel Eto’o. The reigning African Player of the Year on a reported annual salary of £17.5m.
Anzhi are undoubtedly still a work in progress but early signs are encouraging and the club currently sit 7th in the table, but only nine points off top spot.
Another country with inflating ambitions is Brazil. In recent years Brazil’s economy has experienced a boom alongside those of India, China and Russia. All of this whilst many European clubs from the traditional top leagues have become saddled with debt.
A strengthened economy as well as the benefits of hosting the 2014 World Cup has meant that Brazilian clubs have been able to hold on to their talent for longer and attract top players back from Europe earlier, as opposed to previously when players often only returned if they had failed to make the grade in Europe or were in the process of winding down their careers.
In the run to the 2014 World Cup various sponsors have part-funded wages of top players who have returned to the Brazilian Championship including Ronaldinho, Elano, Denilson , Deco and very almost Carlos Tevez who saw a move to Corinthians collapse at the last minute.
Is it possible that the global trend of top South American players seeing it as a necessity to depart for Europe will be reversed, with more and more players moving to South America from Europe?
With the strength of the UEFA Champions League as a brand and marketing tool, such a reverse seems unlikely. However over the coming years the playing field between Europe and South America is expected to level somewhat.
China is now recognised as one of the world’s leading economies having experienced rapid growth over recent years, however the countries football is not thought to have grown on a similar level but what many people don’t know is that in Dario Conca, the Chinese Super League has one of the highest paid footballers in the world.
Dario Conca may not be up there with Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney in terms of profile, but he certainly is in terms of salary.
Conca was bought from Fluminese by Guangzhou Evergrande who are backed by Xu Jiayan, China’s richest man, Xu Jiayan having earned his $3.6billion fortune in the property sector.
Guangzhou have also bought Brazilians Cleo and Muriqui as well as numerous top domestic talents and Real Estate company Dalian Wanda have recently tied up a deal to sponsor the Chinese Super League and fund a number of youth programmes, also using the cash to install Jose Antonio Camacho as coach of the national team.
It is unlikely that Conca and co elected to move to China for career purposes; it instead shows how uncertain the future of the game of football is if the very pawns, the players, are so easily swayed and persuaded to move to unusual destinations to secure a large pay packet.
While it may have taken Manchester City a few years and a few pounds to establish themselves at the very top of the game, it is worth considering what other new superpowers are likely to emerge over the coming seasons courtesy of significant cash injections.
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