Travesty if Malaga do not come good

Malaga, the Qatari-owned Primera Liga side, have Manuel Pellegrini in charge and have made a host of impressive signings.

The 17,000 regulars who watch Primera Liga side Malaga were unsure what to make of the news that their club had been sold to a member of the Qatari royal family last June.

Their club had been owned by Fernando Sanz, a former player and a popular figure who had joined from Real Madrid where his father had been president.

Sanz was presiding over a club in debt and found the €36 million (Dh170.5m) offer too hard to refuse. He had just seen Malaga, a modest "yo-yo" club whose highest ever league position was seventh, avoid relegation on the final day of the season and did not have the money to address the decline.

The deal was applauded by some fans, while others were mystified that the buyers had invested in Malaga and not a bigger club.

The structure of football clubs in Spain means that most bigger clubs cannot be bought. They are owned by their members - the fans - and giants like Barcelona and Madrid celebrate that ownership and their quasi democracy.

Malaga does have potential however. Spain's sixth biggest city of half a million benefits from an enviable footballer-friendly location on the Costa Del Sol. The area has seen a population boom from sun-seeking expatriates from Northern Europe - many of whom miss watching live football in Manchester, Hamburg or Rotterdam and so follow Malaga instead.

There was excitement when Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani announced his ambitions for the club, which included a new 65,000-seater stadium, though more cautious supporters wondered why a club with an average attendance of 17,000 in a modern and redeveloped 28,963-capacity stadium would need such a big venue.

The Sheikh did not make the mistake of promising success, but his ambitions for Malaga became clear when he appointed Manuel Pellegrini as coach in November.

The intelligent Chilean had thrived at Villarreal for five years before taking Real Madrid to their record points haul for a season in 2009/10. He was dismissed because Barca amassed even more.

Pellegrini is a patient coach who likes to build empires. He had an opportunity to do that at Villarreal and seeks to do the same at Malaga.

He feels stability should come from the top and that a coach should have a good relationship with the president. Malaga had shown too little of that and their propensity to bring in eight or nine new players each close season did not work.

Last summer they were involved in 21 transfers.

But Malaga went into the mid-season break in the relegation zone. That is when the Qatari financial muscles started to be flexed with a flurry of signings.

The latest, Julio Baptista, the Brazilian international, was greeted by 4,000 fans last week. The former Arsenal and Real midfielder joined Malaga from Roma, but he was not the only big name.

Martin Demichelis arrived on loan from Bayern Munich and the Argentina international will remain at the club if they stay up and claims the hugely respected Pellegrini - who took Villarreal to the Champions League semi-final - was a big influence.

Sergio Asenjo, the goalkeeper, arrived from Atletico Madrid and his fellow Spain Under 21 international Ignacio Camacho also made the move from Atleti while another new signing has been Enzo Maresca, the former Juventus and Sevilla midfielder.

These are not the actions of a club who want to finish in 17th and narrowly avoid relegation.

Several of the new signings made their debuts in Saturday's game against Athletic Bilbao.

An 80th minute Demichelis goal appeared to be sending Malaga towards victory … until the Basques got a 93rd-minute equaliser. Pellegrini thinks Malaga will come good. With the players he has brought in, it would be a travesty if they didn't.