Rahul Bheke
Rahul Bheke
The signing of Rahul Bheke is somewhat special for Pune City; he is the first proper Maharashtrian to be a part of that team. Born and brought up in Mumbai, he started his senior career at Air India, where he immediately made his place permanent in the first team.
His performance got him recruited by Mumbai FC, another club from his home city, with whom he spent two seasons. He was a partially used squad player during his first season with the club, but next time he had made his way into the first eleven.
In 2015, he got his first opportunity to play in the ISL, at Kerala Blasters. And here, he immediately made an impact. Although the overall performance of the Kerala defence wasn't that great, he stood out, starting 11 games and doing his level best to reduce the damage. He did good for East Bengal in I-League afterwards as well.
Now, playing on loan at Pune City, he can potentially become a poster boy for the franchise to connect with the lower middle class local population. Other than that, his crafty defending skills can make him a long-term prospect for the Stallions to hone and produce a stable defence with a home-grown touch that can be trusted to hold its ground in crunch games.
