Who next, Ronaldo?

By: Chris Paraskevas | June 20th, 2009

If anyone was doubting the gap in resources and power between the top club in Greece and…well…anyone else, the issue has been put to rest in the last week with news that Olympiakos appear set to tie up a deal to bring over Juventus centre-back Olof Mellberg for around 3 million euro, after confirming that Matt Derbyshire would be making his stay permanent for the same amount and the suggestion that the same fate awaits on-loan Liverpool man Sebastian Leto.

The fact that a club such as Olympiakos can supposedly convince Mellberg to shun a return to the lucrative English Premier League – where European football awaits with Aston Villa – is a sign of their pulling power relative to other Greek clubs.

Only Panathinaikos have anything approaching the same recruiting abilities and financial strength, though even they have so far struggled to match their fierce rivals (the capture of the functional Orlando Engelaar hardly compares to Olympiakos’ spending).

The Piraeus giants build for Champions League; the likes of PAOK, AEK Athens and Aris build for the Super League and therein lies the difference.

Next year will likely be another where Olympiakos win the Greek title with minimal effort, despite the fact that they will be managed by the inexperienced Temuri Ketsbia (who, as if to emphasize the point, has been brought in with the sole objective of bringing success in the UEFA Champions League as he had done with unfancied Cypriot Anorthosis Famagusta last season).

Mellberg and Derbyshire probably won’t be the last of the captures bankrolled by cashed-up owner Sokratis Kokkalis, who appears ever-willing to make the financial sacrifices in search of European glory (for which the return is potentially great).

With Panathinaikos still some way behind – though admittedly, slowly returning to the same level as their rivals – it appears as though the port city club are set to win their 13th championship in 14 years as those outside the top-two scrap for Europa League spots and a possible Champions League berth (given the current plight of AEK Athens, the term ‘Top Three’ hardly applies).

One positive of course is the return of Aris and PAOK to their prestigious former selves, offering some semblance of resistance in the north that has traditionally been one of the few genuine challenges to Athenian dominance.

But theirs is a mere footnote to a period of Greece’s domestic history that has been utterly dominated and monopolized by Olympiakos and that appears set to continue with another summer spending spree that dwarfs any other in Greece.

Who next, Ronaldo?