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Playing at a top European club is every footballer's dream. And that dream even envisions in a far distant land like India. A select few individuals like Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Subrata Paul got the privilege to ply their trade in the top division clubs of Europe, whereas others had to be content with having unsuccessful trials.
And then there are those who bagged a training stint. They socialized with the youth academy and the reserve teams of the foreign clubs and made full use of the knowledge gained in the coming seasons. Without any further ado, here are five Indian footballers who had training stints abroad.
#5 Shubham Sarangi- Aspire Academy (Qatar)
Shubham Sarangi was a part of the AIFF setup and was supposed to take part in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. However, coach Luis Norton de Matos snubbed him in the last moment and he lost the opportunity to play in the biennial extravaganza. However, ISL side Delhi Dynamos took note of his talent and signed him in the winter transfer window of 2018.
Rather than letting him start in the ISL, he was sent to their technical partners - the Aspire Academy in Qatar for a four-month training stint. The state of the art facility is even utilised by the youth teams of prominent European clubs like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
This season, he clocked up a total of 353 minutes for the Lions and notched up 17 successful tackles, despite being a forward. Sadly, he doesn't have a goal to show for his efforts.
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#4 Lallianzuala Chhangte and Jerry Mawihmingthanga- Liverpool (England)
Liverpool opened their youth academy in Pune in partnership with DSK Shivajians in 2014. The team regularly participated in various U-17 and U-19 tournaments but no player of the stature of Lallianzuala Chhangte and Jerry Mawhimingthanga were produced in the past.
Then only 18, both of them got a dream offer to train with the U-18 team of Liverpool for a week and interact with the first-team players. By then Chhangte had already scored twice for the senior India football team.
Now, both Chhangte and Mawihmingthanga feature regularly for their club Delhi Dynamos and Jamshedpur FC respectively, with the former even bagging a trial offer with Norweigan outfit Vikings FK. Moreover, both of them have been called up for India's AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers squad.
#3 Mandar Rao Dessai- Villarreal (Spain)
Mandar Rao Dessai had a fantastic 2015 season in the ISL with FC Goa. He scored three goals and bagged two assists for them and played a key role in helping the Goan outfit to top the league. Sadly for FC Goa, they lost to Chennaiyin FC in the final.
Villarreal CF had a partnership with FC Pune City and India on Track to promote football in the country. Although Mandar wasn't part of the FC Pune City setup, the club negotiated with FC Goa to send the wily winger to a two-week training stint with the Spanish outfit.
The fruits of his training stint bloomed in the 2017-18 season when he started FC Goa's every match and scored two goals and registered three assists. In the ongoing 2018-19 season, he is playing as a left-back, a role he is not familiar with. However, he isn't letting the opponents take advantage of that.
#2 Udanta Singh- Oxford (England)
Bengaluru FC signed Tata FA graduate Udanta Singh before the 2014-15 I-League season. After making 13 appearances for the club, including two first-team starts in the AFC Cup, Bengaluru FC decided to send Udanta to League Two outfit Oxford FC for a four-month training stint. He came on as a substitute for the English outfit against Benfica 'B' in a friendly match.
Next season he made 21 appearances for Bengaluru FC, only behind John Johnson and Rino Anto, and scored a goal. Under the watchful eyes of Albert Roca, he continued his development and made 22 starts the following season.
Looking back at the training stint, it can be said that it wasn't a mere marketing technique deployed by the English club. It helped Udanta to tap his full potential and successfully metamorphose from an energetic player to that of a matured and composed one.
#1 Anirudh Thapa, Jerry Lalrinzuala, and Prosenjit Chakraborty- FC Metz (France)
French club FC Metz might play in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football, but they have a world-class youth academy. Boasting names like Robert Pires, Louis Saha, and Emmanuel Adebayor as their academy graduates, Anirudh Thapa, Jerry Lalrinzuala, and Prosenjit Chakraborty got the opportunity to rub shoulders with other young boys at the French club.
The AIFF, who had a partnership with FC Metz, arranged the training stint for the three U-19 boys in 2016. Chennaiyin FC roped all the three prospects, with Anirudh and Lalrinzuala playing a key role in their title-winning 2017-18 season.
Anirudh was even a part of India's 2019 AFC Asian Cup squad. Prosenjit is currently plying his trade with CFL club Mohammedan Sporting after being loaned to them by Chennaiyin FC.
