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I-League side Chennai City FC and Roberto Eslava have decided to part ways, the Spanish defender announced on Wednesday. Eslava was part of the I-League 2018-19 winning squad of Chennai City and played a pivotal role in the championship-winning campaign.
The out transfers
Roberto Eslava signed a three-year extension after last season which was supposed to keep him at the club till the end of the 2021-22 season. Chennai City fell prey to several out-going transfers as multiple ISL and I-League sides jumped in to sign the key players of their I-League winning squad.
Tenzin Sandup joined Real Kashmir, Gaurav Bora joined Odisha FC, Edwin Vanspaul joined Chennaiyin FC, Kartik Govindaswamy joined ARA, Nestor Gordillo joined Hyderabad FC, Jozef Kaplan joined OSK Besenova and Pedro Manzi joined Albirex Nigata in a move in which the highest transfer fee in Indian football was doled out.
As Chennai City had an AFC Cup/AFC Champions League campaign to represent India in, the Rohit Ramesh owned side decided to secure some of their signings with long-term deals including Eslava's three-year extension.
Disappointing
However, the defending Champions failed to replicate the success of their previous season in the 2019-20 campaign as they lacked several of their key performers. Chennai City were seventh in the standings with the league concluding due to the coronavirus pandemic and were out of the title race quite early.
City missed their top players in Sandro, Manzi and Nestor upfront which made them a very vulnerable side. With just 5 wins in the entire season, Akbar Nawas' side clearly looked like a team lacking conviction. Players started to fall out with the management on various issues as well.
Roberto Eslava played 33 games for Chennai City and has been the most inspiring defender at the back for the Coimbatore-based side. Eslava is known for his dynamism and he can go up the pitch and score as well. Eslava has been the talk of the town in the previous season due to his defensive prowess in the air. It is reported that Eslava felt unsettled at the club and was becoming wary of the fact that he was being under-utilised at the club.
Chennai City have an AFC Cup campaign to participate in and the continuous trend of transfers of their promising players is expected to hurt their chances in the continental competition which will impact India's MA rankings in AFC competitions as well.
