Abramovich must heed Lazio lesson

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich may have set his sights on emulating Manchester United and Real Madrid as he embarked upon his plans to buy a short-cut to success at Stamford Bridge.

However, it is the example of Lazio’s £100m (€144m) bill for a single Serie A triumph, which has since destabilised the club’s entire future, which he should perhaps reflect upon just as seriously over the coming weeks and months.

And it is a lesson that Sven-Goran Eriksson would have been able to tell him all about at their recent ‘social’ meeting.

For it was Eriksson who was handed Sergio Cragnotti’s open chequebook in Rome and used it to full effect, with Juan Sebastian Veron, now one of Chelsea’s main targets, being his most notable capture.

Plucked from South America by Eriksson, first to Sampdoria and then Lazio, the Argentina international was the inspiration behind the Rome club’s 2000 Italian double as they secured only the second Scudetto in their history.

Then again, Veron was not alone as a big-money signing, with Christian Vieri, Marcelo Salas, Dejan Stankovic, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Fernando Couto and Ivan de la Pena also having cost almost £70m between them.

Vieri may actually have been sold by the time that the title arrived, while Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez had not yet arrived for more than £50m, but Eriksson had still established something of a stranglehold on the transfer market.

And when the title followed a 1999 Cup Winners’ Cup triumph, the wisdom of his moves appeared clear, with the Swede and also Cragnotti hailed as heroes of the Roman capital.

So too will Abramovich hope to be acclaimed by the west London faithful if he manages to transform Chelsea’s fortunes with his impressive wealth and ambition.

However, the warning signs were quickly clear in Rome and they should be heeded too in London. For it was not long before Lazio’s fortunes turned, before even Eriksson jumped ship for England.

With the transfer market collapsing around them and income stagnating, while the wage bill remained huge, Lazio found themselves in deep financial strife, with Cragnotti being forced to step down last season.

Of course, Abramovich’s pockets seem to be rather deeper than those of the Italian tomato sauce baron, and the Russian could continue to bankroll sustained success if a bandwagon ever got rolling at Stamford Bridge.

Then again, if he ever lost interest with Chelsea or became bored with his latest plaything, the club are always in danger of following the Lazio example.

Just think of the damage done to them by Winston Bogarde’s continuing wage bill for sitting in the reserves and magnify the problem.

Chelsea have at least shown signs of investing in young talent, the one way to ensure a lasting future, with their capture of Glen Johnson from West Ham and their apparent interest in the likes of Wayne Bridge and Steven Gerrard.

So too did Lazio to a certain extent, in not only bringing Alessandro Nesta through the ranks, but also signing Pavel Nedved for just £2.5m (€3.6m)

Veron, whose anticipated signing would surely have to be dusted for Eriksson’s fingerprints, at least in terms of advice as to influential players, is rather more of a gamble following his failure to make an impact at Old Trafford.

However, the real key for Abramovich to achieve success at Stamford Bridge is to show patience.

Lazio should have won the Serie A title in 1999 only to stumble in the final straight while spending big does not guarantee long-term success in England either – as Leeds and Blackburn would attest to varying degrees.

Even Mohamed Al Fayed has invested close to £100m (€144m) in Fulham and, while they have become a Premiership club, there is no guarantee they will remain one.

In contrast, United and Real have built up their success over decades. Rich in history and tradition, they have a solid fan base that has weathered many storms over the years.

They have both spent sizeable sums on players but never risked the club’s future, even if the Spanish club needed to sell off their city centre training ground to balance the books only recently.

They remain the long-term goals, but Abramovich would do as well to look to the capital of Italy as much as that of Spain in the meantime.

Exciting times surely lie ahead at Stamford Bridge but at least Eriksson is the perfect man to warn the Russian of the thin, precarious and highly-costly line between overnight success and failure in professional sport.