All you need to know about the 2015 ISL auction and draft

The Indian Super League’s Indian player draft and auction will see eight clubs vie for 123 players for the second season which starts on 3 October. Out of these 123, ten names will be auctioned — these include the likes of Sunil Chhetri and Jackichand Singh, who missed out on the inaugural season. The rest of the players are part of a draft — teams will pick out who they need in an order decided by lots. It’s a bit of IPL and a bit of NBA. [caption id=“attachment_2293328” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Chhetri is the most expensive player in the auction. AFP[/caption] Only 40 players will go home happy ISL clubs have signed 64 domestic players from the open market till date (as shown in the infographic attached below). Another 40 will be picked from the draft to complete the quota — clubs need to sign at least 13 domestic players. Now don’t mix up the auction and the draft — even though the 10 players in the auction are Indian, they will be counted as an ‘additional signing’ and not be part of the minimum domestic player number (13) that every club needs to have on their roster. The salaries of players bought in the auction will also be deducted from clubs’ foreign salary cap. It’s worth knowing that every club also needs to have two players under the age of 23 as ‘development player’. These are the number of picks each team has in the draft:

The minimum raise during bidding during the auction will depend on the players’ base price. For example , bids for Chhetri (80 lakhs) and Karanjeet Singh (60 lakhs) will need to be raised by a minimum of Rs 2 lakhs. The following table will make it clearer:

Money matters Each club has a purse of Rs 21 crore. A club can spend maximum of Rs 5.50 crore on domestic players and Rs 15.50 crore for international and marquee players. Currently Mumbai City FC have the maximum domestic purse left with Rs 3.67 crores — Kerala Blasters have the least amount, with Rs 1.99 crore left. For international signings, Pune City FC have their full quota of Rs 15.50 crore remaining since they retained none of their foreigners from last year and haven’t signed anyone from the open market. FC Goa have spent most of their foreign signings purse — and have Rs 6.65 crores left. The cheapest and most expensive players Chhetri is the most expensive player in the auction with a base price of Rs 80 lakhs. Goalkeeper Karanjeet Singh, also in the auction list, is worth Rs 60 lakhs. In the draft, left back Keegan Pereira is the most expensive — for Rs 32 lakhs. His rise is quite recent — and he’s had a fine season for Bengaluru FC. Pereira is known for his marauding runs down the left and tracks back pretty well. Gurjinder Kumar of Salgaocar FC is the next highest priced player in the draft list (Rs 27 lakhs) — while he can punch his weight in midfield, he primarily plays as left back and scored three goals in three appearances in the Federation Cup this year. Aayushman Chaturvedi can be snapped for Rs 1.20 lakhs — that’s the minimum price on the list. The 20-year-old has been traning in England preparing for the ISL and has played for two years at the Brooke House Academy (England) before signing for Mohun Bagan last year. For the wheeler dealers There are a few wildcards on the list too — Brandon Fernandes could be a steal for Rs 12 lakhs. The player, who has trained in South Africa and had trials with Sunderland and Leicester City in England, scored thrice in nine I-League appearances last season (for Sporting Goa). The attacking midfielder is flamboyant and tricky — still a slightly unknown commodity but certainly one who can make you stand up and watch. Durga Boro, who was the heartbeat for NorthEast United last season, is available for Rs 7 lakhs — the tireless forward is certainly worth that much. Victorino Fernandes, at Rs 16 lakhs, is one of the better Indian forwards — and scored six goals in 20 matches for Sporting last season. CK Vineeth (Bengaluru FC), fresh from two appearances for India, is at Rs 15 lakhs. Sehnaj Singh, who sits back in midfield and plays the role of destroyer, is at Rs 18 lakhs. Pune FC’s Dhanpal Ganesh (20-years-old), India defender now, is for Rs 9 lakhs and experienced defender Anupam Sarkar for Rs 7 lakhs. 22-year-old central midfielder Shilton D’Silva is a young and upcoming talent and is available for Rs 8 lakhs. The youngest and oldest players Sushil Meitei and Moirangthem Loken Singh are both 18. The former is an attacking midfielder and is avaialable for Rs 1.80 lakhs. Loken is available for double that price. Both play for Royal Wahingdoh. Germanpreet Singh (Dempo SC), also 18, is a utility midfielder for Rs 4 lakhs. The oldest player is 36-year-old Mathew Gonzalves (Rs 15 lakhs). The Instant Trading process Each club will have two opportunities to participate in the Instant Trading process. This is basically an attempt to immediately complete a player transfer. Let’s say Mumbai City FC picked a player in the draft — one which FC Goa want desperately. FC Goa can, within the first 15 seconds of Mumbai’s pick, activate ‘Instant Trading’ by hitting the buzzer — this will allow them to immediately make a bid for the player Mumbai picked. In return, they will have to forfeit their draft pick chance to Mumbai too. If there is a third club involved, then formal transfer bids will be submitted within a minute — and the holding club (who have already picked the player) has another minute to accept bids. Clubs have only two Instant Trading attempts. The holding clubs are not obliged to accept any offer. The draft and auction start at 10 am on 10 July. Firstpost will live blog the event.

The writer tweets @TheFalseNo9