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The fourth edition of the Indian Super League will be held over five months and will comprise ten teams after the addition of Jamshedpur FC and Bengaluru FC. ISL 2017 is just around the corner and the auction of the players is just a couple of days away.
The ISL announced earlier this week that the player draft for the fourth season will be held on July 23 in Mumbai and will feature all ten clubs. The domestic draft for the fourth edition of ISL will have 200 Indian players.
According to the draft rules, there should be a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 18 Indian players in a squad, which includes two players from U-21. Each of the franchises has been allowed to retain two of the senior players from their 2016 squad, in addition to retaining up to three U21 players to fill up the development player quota.
22 players have been retained by eight of these franchises. Jamshedpur FC, being the newest team as such, will start with a clean slate while 2016 semi-finalists Delhi Dynamos have decided not to retain any of their players.
There are players who have already tasted the ISL success in the past but this time, their values have gone down drastically which makes them good bargains for plenty of ISL clubs. Let’s have a look at five players who have been champions before but failed to fetch a better price tag this time out.
Robert Lalthlamuana
Robert played for Atletico de Kolkata in last year’s ISL and the Kolkata outfit became the champions. Robert, who plays as a left back, made nine appearances for ATK last year. He played some good football for the two-time champions.
Despite all these, his value has been set at Rs 25 lakhs for the current season. Robert started off his top level career with Churchill Brothers and then moved to Kolkata giants East Bengal in 2011. In 2014, he signed for Delhi Dynamos on loan and they kept him for the following season as well. In 2016, he joined ATK, again on loan from Delhi Dynamos, ending up as champions.
Under ATK’s Spanish coach Jose Molina, Robert bloomed and got starts in few of the games as well. Somehow, his performance could not impress others and he has to remain satisfied with a base price of 25 lakhs this year.
Mohammed Rafi
Rafi won ISL trophy in the very first season of the popular franchise league with Atletico de Kolkata. He is a striker and made ten appearances for ATK in 2014. Despite being an influential presence, Rafi could only score one goal in ISL-1 and subsequently moved to Kerala Blasters in the following season.
His base price for this year is 30 lakhs. Being the champion in the very first season, his graph went down instead of flying high, and his age of 35 has had a huge bearing on that. This striker will be looking to get an opportunity this year to get himself back into the mainstream of Indian football.
Sena Ralte
Sena Ralte was a part of the Chennaiyin FC team in 2015 that won the ISL trophy. Ralte played as a left-back for Bengaluru FC on loan from Mumbai City FC during the 2017 I-League season. Despite previously having won the ISL with Chennaiyin FC, Ralte’s base price this season is 27 lakhs which again goes to show that talent and capabilities sometimes do not get paid enough.
He made six appearances for the Chennai outfit in 2015 and came out with decent performances, leading to Mumbai City roping him in the following year. The quick left-back was not retained by Mumbai City and will be one of the cheapest star players in the draft.
Zakeer Mundampara
Mundampara is another player who has won the ISL but his base price is too low for this year compared to his achievements, set at 18 lakhs for the coming season. In July 2015, Mundampara was drafted to play for Chennaiyin FC but he didn’t make any appearances in the entire season.
Mundampara started his career with State Bank of Travancore and then moved to Viva Kerala, Churchill Brothers, Prayag United, Mohun Bagan and finally Chennaiyin FC. He made his India U-23 debut on 19 June 2011 against Qatar U23 coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Shilton D'Silva. For him, it is more important to get opportunities than the money since he is young and currently needs to have a strong footing.
Abhishek Das
Das won the ISL title with Chennaiyin FC in 2015. He made three appearances for the Abhishek Bachchan and M.S. Dhoni-owned side. He is a gutsy customer in the right-back position and has represented India at U-23, U-19 and U-16 levels.
Das joined Chennaiyin in 2014 and was retained by the club for the next season as well in which they became the champions. Das started off with East Bengal and later grew as a footballer in Kolkata. He made international debut against Myanmar at U-23 level during 2012 Olympic Qualifiers.
Das quite interestingly started playing football at the age of four and, later on, joined Tata Football Academy. His base price for this year’s auction is 28 lakhs, which many believe could have been more.
