German Tkachenko: Anzhi did reach agreement with Hulk, but Porto demanded a weird transfer amount

German Tkachenko, a well-known Russian agent and head of ProSports Management, working closely with Anzhi Makhachkala, spoke about the club’s past activities in the transfer market.

«Financial fair play will kill modern football because it will secure the current state of affairs. What is the positive role of the projects like Anzhi or Manchester City? They challenge the division of clubs into the top ones, who skim off all the cream, and all the rest. Yes, we have to pay a premium. But it’s not so exorbitant: Eto’o’s transfer for 21 million is a super deal.

«Everyone realizes we are something special. Our attitude to scouting is very serious. Speaking about Eto’o, for example, his transfer required fourteen interviews: I talked about him with Benayoun, because they used to be friends in Spain, with Mijatovic, with Roberto Carlos, with Jose Mourinho, with Artur Jorge, with the doctors from Barcelona and Real Madrid. We are now the most widely mentioned club in the world. Everyone knows us, everyone wants to join us. If only I could reveal the names, these would be the names of top players.»

«Still, you probably understand they don’t want your ‘fun’, they just want your money.»

«They want the ‘fun’ as well, it can’t be taken away. Otherwise, they should go to Qatar, where they will get more.»

«Your new coach Roberto Carlos always reveals some names.»

«We approached Reuss from Borussia Moenchengladbach. Of course, we talked and even reached agreement with Hulk, but Porto demanded a weird transfer amount – 70 million. We approached Santos, and Roberto talked to Neimar. We talked to Tolya Tymoshchuk, but didn’t have enough time to reach agreement with Bayern. Alan Kasayev was also one of our targets.»

«Did you expected that Zhirkov would be booed in Moscow?»

«No. I thought I understood the mechanism of mental reactions in general, but it was something totally unexpected. We were in competition with Dynamo Moscow, and it was them who jacked up the price. However, Dynamo conducted their negotiation by text messages. But it’s not a thing you should do by texting. Zhirkov’s child was denied a visa in England, while we made his wife a long-term visa to Europe – just in case – so that she would be always happy,» Tkachenko revealed in an interview with PROsport.