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The Chennai franchise of the Indian Super League have signed Brazilian playmaker Elano according to various media reports.
After missing out on Ronaldinho, Chennai were determined to get former Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Elano and the 33-year-old has reportedly signed for the franchise co-owned by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan.
“I am happy that we have signed a world-class player. Elano has always been one of our backup options. It was either Ronaldinho or him,” Prashant Agarwal, CEO of Kshatriya Sports, the technical partners of the Chennai franchise, was quoted saying by TOI.
Agarwal told the Hindu, “I sometimes feel it’s still a dream. But it’s more exciting to live the dream. Elano is a great champion and he’ll add Samba magic to team Chennai.”
Elano had been a free agent since playing for Flamengo on-loan from fellow Brazilian club Gremio.
He made 50 appearances for the Brazil national team, scoring nine goals and played in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Elano was part of Brazil’s triumphs at the 2007 Copa America and 2009 Confederations Cup.
Elano is expected to join Chennai’s training base in Bangalore soon and the franchise is also set to announce Italian World Cup winner Marco Materazzi as the manager.
