The players draft ahead of the fourth ISL season was full of a variety of stories and requirements
Sunil Chhetri doesn't like to talk much. So, when ATK snapped his close mate Eugensen Lyngdoh from Bengaluru FC for Rs 1.1 crore in the Indian Super League (ISL) domestic players draft here on Sunday, his reply was emotional.
Emotional, though with a few words. "I will miss him and wish him all the luck," is all what Chhetri said.
Chhetri, who was retained by Bengaluru, and Lyngdoh were a force for their side in the I-League, working brilliantly as a pair.
"On the pitch nothing changes. We want to win every game," Chhetri added when asked about the change in strategy in the absence of Lyngdoh.
For ATK, Lyngdoh was a big pick. "He was our No. 1 pick. He also scores goals and should be valuable," said ATK coach Teddy Sheringham.
The players draft ahead of the fourth ISL season was full of a variety of stories and requirements. While Chhetri lost his partner to another team, new ISL entrant Jamshedpur FC picked up their academy player and veteran India goalkeeper Subrata Paul for Rs 87 lakh. Paul began his football career at the Tata Football Academy.
Jamshedpur also bagged another promising talent from Kerala, defender Anas Edathodika, who was released by Delhi Dynamos, for Rs 1.1 crore, with an aim to make their back stronger.
Steve Coppel, the recently-appointed coach of Jamshedpur outfit. said the aim is to convert their strong team on paper into the field.
"Picking Indian players is a priority and we will try and match the skeleton of the team. A decision on choosing foreign players will be taken soon. We have some foreign players in the mind. We had terrific and solid players in the pick. Now our job is to cement the team," he said.
Overall, 134 players were sold out of a total 199 in the day-long players draft that ended on a happy note for fans and team owners.
However, Chennaiyin FC owner Abhishek Bachchan was a tad upset at not being able to retain their crucial players Harmanjot Khabra (now with Bengaluru FC) and Jayesh Rane (now with ATK). However, Chennaiyin have retained the core of their side.
"We wanted to keep our squad as much as possible as we had immense faith in them. Two players unfortunately we couldn't retain. We are very happy with the new guys and will look forward to working with them. We wanted to look at continuity and John (Abraham of NorthEast United FC) was very keen on that as well," he said.
There were disappointments in store for some too, as quite a few big names like former India international Gourmangi Singh (FC Pune City last year), Ravanan Dharamraj, Syed Rahim Nabi, Debabrata Roy and Avishek Das went unsold in the draft.
Nita Ambani, chairperson of Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), said this year's ISL will be longer and will bring in more quality.
"It is going to be an exciting new journey, a longer season, kicking off this November. Both in terms of number of matches moving up from 61 to 95 and the duration from two and a half months to five months. The longer season will ensure sufficient rest for players between the matches and will help in the quality of play getting better," she said.
TOP 5 BUYS
Player Amount Team
Anas Edathodika Rs 1.1 cr Jamshedpur FC
Eugensen Lyngdoh Rs 1.1 cr ATK
Subrata Paul Rs 87 lakh Jamshedpur FC
Pritam Kotal Rs 75 lakh Delhi Dynamos
Robin Singh Rs 65 lakh ATK
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