ISL 2017: Delhi Dynamos make shocking announcement regarding domestic player retention

Delhi Dynamos have made a surprising announcement that they won't be retaining any player and in the process, will enter the player draft earlier than the other teams, Tata Steel's new team aside.

In an announcement via their official Twitter handle, the Lions posted: "After much consideration and thought, Delhi Dynamos FC will NOT retain any of their domestic players for the upcoming ISL season 4 draft."

After much consideration and thought, Delhi Dynamos FC will NOT retain any of their domestic players for the upcoming ISL season 4 draft.

— Delhi Dynamos FC (@DelhiDynamos) July 7, 2017

With almost every other club having retained at least one homegrown player from last season, Delhi Dynamos's decision comes as a shock. Their announcement today means prized asset Anas Edathodika will head into the player draft and will be on many clubs’ top target lists.

Out of the ten clubs eligible to retain and sign domestic players before the player draft kicks in later this month, reportedly the last week of July, only NorthEast United, Pune City and Delhi Dynamos hadn't announced their retained players’ list. With their announcement, the Lions have now officially pulled out of retaining any India player from their squad of last season.

Out of the teams that have retained players, Bengaluru have gone for Sunil Chhetri and Udanta Singh, Kerala Blasters have decided to retain CK Vineeth and Sandesh Jhingan, Atletico de Kolkata have gone for Debjit Majumder and Prabir Das, Mumbai City have kept Sehnaj Singh and Amrinder Singh, FC Goa have sided with Mandar Rao Dessai and Laxmikant Kattimani, and Chennaiyin FC have gone for Jeje Lalpekhlua and Karanjit Singh.

Delhi Dynamos’ decision mean the likes of Kean Lewis, Shouvik Chakraborty and Anas could be plying their trade elsewhere. Quite why they came to this decision is yet unknown, but with new coach Miguel Angel Portugal at the helm now, the club are likely to move away from their old philosophy as they gear up for the new-look, retooled Indian Super League campaign this year.

The ISL will have ten teams next season, with Bengaluru FC and Tata Steel’s new team set to be part of the popular franchise league. The league will run for five months instead of the previous three, while the number of foreigners is also expected to come down.