All The Russian Billionaires Want Guus Hiddink

By Eric Beard

Despite everything Soccernomics preaches, Turkey’s path to becoming a footballing superpower has hit yet another bump in the road. The nation failed to qualify for EURO 2012, and via the transitive property this means Guus Hiddink’s time is up as manager. The country and the Dutch mastermind have parted ways, so Guus is officially on the market. Well, sort of. The Dutchman isn’t ready to simply jump into another coaching position. He said, “I want to have a rest. I haven’t decided my future yet, but it is too early to start with a new team.”

It is no secret that Johan Cruyff did all he could to convince Hiddink to come back home to Ajax to be the club’s Director of Football. Dreams of football purists envisioning the Ajax of the 1970s returning to power died quickly, as Guus has said there is too much turmoil at the Amsterdam-based club for him.

All signs seem to point to a return to Chelsea, where he gained legend status at Stamford Bridge in only a matter of months. “It was great at Chelsea, a terrific time, but that does not mean I am ready to start tomorrow. I need time to reflect. I’m not ready to retire, I like to be involved with a team on a daily basis, but maybe I am ready to step out of the limelight a little bit, away from the cameras. Hopefully I will still be involved but perhaps it will be as an adviser or a consultant.”

Roman Abramovich is arguably Hiddink’s biggest fan, however, the billionaire Chelsea owner has put his faith in Andre Villas-Boas, who has done decently enough transitioning into the Premier League. It’s hard to imagine that Villas-Boas, a man who already has his own long term vision for the club, will want to have his actions overseen by Hiddink. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine that Abramovich wouldn’t want this.

Though harsh, a genuine question is whether or not Hiddink can still manage at the highest level. He may have succeeded with Chelsea, but he wasn’t able to get Russia into the 2010 World Cup and now he has fallen short once again with Turkey. At least amongst Russian billionaires, the phrase “class is permanent” seems to be very influential. Competing with Abramovich is Anzhi Makhachkala of the Russian Premier League, who reportedly have offered a three-year deal worth £22m each year. Anzhi’s billionaire owner, Suleiman Kerimov, has already made his intentions to build a dynasty clear by making Samuel Eto'o the highest paid player in all of football.

As things stand, Hiddink has ruled out a move to Anzhi, however, that kind of money can be difficult to turn down when living with idle hands. Hiddink’s “reflection period” will undoubtedly be interesting and full of headlines in the papers. At the end of the day, not every manager that can fail miserably, get fired, and then have the opportunity to settle into an exorbitant contract.