ISL kicks off with busy draft, but you'll have to wait for the foreign stars

Mumbai: Day one of the Indian Super League’s draft saw a host of Indian stars being picked by the eight franchisees, but the wait for big name foreigners will continue.

Subrata Paul, Denzil Franco, Nirmal Chettri, Anwar Ali, Gouramangi Singh, Raju Gaikwad, Deepak Mondal, Syed Nabi, Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues, Francis Fernandez and Jeje Lalpekhlua were all snapped up — but IMG’s Vice President (Football) Andy Knee said that fans will need to be patient for more marquee players and foreign names to be revealed.

The reason for this is simple. The ISL, at least in it’s first few seasons, is expected to rope in players who are past their best but still household names — players who will wait for the transfer market to close in Europe before they decide on signing a contract which is just two-and-a-half months long.

“The contract we’ll be offering is worth two-and-a-half months of football, so it’s fair to allow the players we have spoken to some time to decide their futures. They will naturally be keen to sign a one or two-year deal so it’s only fair that we wait for them and be patient,” Knee said.

Atletico de Kolkata have already signed Luis Garcia and North East United have signed World Cup winner Joan Capdevila as their marquee players and Knee said that players of that magnitude have been spoken to about playing in the ISL. Former Manchester United player Mikael Sylvestre also signed up for the central pool of the league.

The transfer market in Europe closes on 1 September and an IMG-Reliance official said that there will be a separate window for foreign players in the last week of August.

Here’s what the ISL teams look like after the first day of the draft:

Team Pune: Lenny Rodrigues, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Ashutosh Mehta, Joaquim Abranches, Pritam Kotal, Manish Maithani, Israil Gurung.

Team Mumbai: Subrata Paul, Lalrindika Ralte, Syed Rahim Nabi, Raju Gaikwad, Subash Singh, Ram Malik, Deepak Mondal.

Kerala Blasters FC: Mehtab Hussain, Sandesh Jhingan, Ishfaq Ahmed, Gurwinder Singh, Nirmal Chettri, Sushant Matthew, Godwin Franco.

Team Bengaluru: Harmanjot Khabra, Dhanachandra Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Gouramangi Singh, Shilton Paul, Denson Devadas, Khelemba Meitei.

Atletico de Kolkata: Cavin Lobo, Arnab Mondal, Denzil Franco, Rakesh Masih, Mohammed Rafique, Mohammed Rafi, Biswajit Saha.

Delhi Dynamos FC: Francis Fernandes, Robert Lalthamuana, Naoba Singh, Shylo Malswamtluanga, Shouvik Ghosh, Shouvik Chakraborty, Munmun Lugun.

Team Goa: Laxmikant Kattimani, Debabrata Roy, Gabriel Fernandes, Clifford Miranda, Jewel Raja Shaikh, Alwyn George, Narayan Das.

North East United FC: Kunzang Bhutia, Jibon Singh, Durga Boro, Aibor Khongjee, Zodingliana Ralte, TP Rehnesh, Boithang Haokip.