Arsenal's billionaire Russian shareholder Alisher Usmanov to pay manager's wages

RUSSIAN billionaire Alisher Usmanov has agreed to help the national team through a financial crisis by paying the wages of manager Fabio Capello.

Alisher Usmanov at TottenhamGETTY

Alisher Usmanov (centre) is a shareholder at Arsenal and Russia's richest man

Usmanov, who owns around 30% of Arsenal but refuses to invest further in the club, will provide the Russian Football Union (RFS) with a £3.91million loan to meet Capello's contract.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko asked Usmanov, 61, for the loan in order to avoid embarrassment as Russia prepare to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which has already endured a 10 percent cut to its budget.

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Mutko told news agency RBC-Sport: "We spoke with Alisher Usmanov for around an hour and managed to get things sorted out. As a citizen of Russia he would also have been embarrassed that we as a country that plans to host the next World Cup cannot even pay the head coach of Russia."

Usmanov's wealth is estimated at £12.16billion and is Russia's richest person, according to Forbes.

Sources close to the businessman claim he gave the RFS a gift of £3m before the 2014 World Cup.

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