Anzhi Makhachkala: Damning update for Russian club who signed Eto'o and Roberto Carlos

Anzhi Makhachkala will reportedly cease to exist as a professional club this summer.

According to Russian Football News, the former Europa League side have reached the end of the line having failed to receive a license for the Russian third tier.

Football in the Dagestani city will instead continue through Dinamo Makhachkala, who were promoted to Russia’s second tier for the first time in their history this season.

An official post from Anzhi themselves then confirmed that the club’s application for the license necessary to play in FNL 2 had indeed been denied, thus leading to the loss of its professional status.

All in all, it really is a remarkable situation when you consider that Anzhi seemed hellbent on taking world football by storm in the early 2010s with a number of head-spinning transfers.

Billionaire owner Suleyman Kerimov had overseen a mind-boggling spending spree between 2011 and 2013 in a mission to propel Anzhi to glory that ended just as quickly as it started.

Anzhi did manage to finish third in the Russian Premier League in 2012/13, even beating Liverpool in Europe along the way, but the fairy tale was swiftly over once the season had concluded.

According to the BBC, Kerimov suddenly slashed the club’s budget of £116 million per season to between £32m and £45m as he was no longer happy to “finance a gravy train.”

The plug was seemingly pulled on all the extravagant spending overnight with an official statement quipping: “having analysed the club’s recent sporting results, the decision has been taken to work on a new long-term strategy for the club”.

And the wheels could hardly have fallen off much quicker with manager Rene Meulensteen losing his job after just 16 days and Anzhi immediately suffering