ISL franchises come alive in the domestic transfer market
THE DOMESTIC SEASON IS not fully over but most I-League clubs have already gone out of action after losing out in the battle for the Federation Cup. And almost immediately the Indian Super League franchises have sprung into action, signing up players left and right from these clubs for the third edition of ISL starting October.
A major shift in the recruiting policies of NorthEast United has caught attention; instead of picking up most of their Indian players from the North-Eastern states they are now picking up quality players from all over the country.
First up they bagged a dependable and experienced goalkeeper in Subrata Paul who played for Mumbai City in the first two years of ISL and was last seen in action as the DSK Shivajians custodian in the I-League. Soon the promising Sporting Clube de Goa medio who recently turned heads playing for the Indian national team, Rowlin Borges, joined their ranks. His fellow SCG/Blue Tigers teammate striker Sumit Passi also signed for NEUFC, as did long-time injured Nirmal Chhetri and Shouvik Ghosh. Salam Ranjan Singh, a youngster from Bengaluru FC, also inked a loan deal with the Highlanders. All this happened within days of their official appointment of new head coach Sergio Farias.
Atletico de Kolkata, meanwhile, made a few signings that were meant to entice their core fanbase: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan fans. From East Bengal they picked up Lalrindika Ralte and Robert Lalthlamuana while both Mohun Bagan goalkeepers Debjit Majumder and Shilton Paul, national team regular Pritam Kotal as well as the promising Prabir Das have all signed for the Kolkata-based franchise.
Pune City have also been in business with the clubs from the East as well, picking up Narayan Das from East Bengal, and loaning out Vishal Kaith and Zodingliana Ralte from Shillong Lajong. They are also set to have the very first Maharashtrian player in their ranks: East Bengal's Rahul Bheke has signed for them too. Augustine Fernandes of Salgaocar will also join them.
There have been some activity in the market from Mumbai City (signed Jackichand Singh) and Delhi Dynamos (picked up Sanjiban Ghosh, Amoes Do) as well, while Kerala Blasters did something out of the box for ISL franchises - they looked beyond the I-League (top tier) for talents and recruited talented players like Vinit Rai (Dempo SC) and Farukh Choudhary (Kashmir FC) who were plying their trade in the 2nd Division League.
FC Goa have spent the recent weeks trying to deal with the large penalties imposed on them by the ISL Regulatory Commission but they are expected to come alive in the transfer market soon enough to be prepared in time for pre-season in August/September.
