#8 Mandar Rao Dessai
2016 was a memorable year for Mandar as he flew to Spain for a training period with Villarreal. He spent only two weeks with the Spanish club, but by his own admission, he learned a lot from there – about life both on and off the football pitch.
Like Romeo, he too spent the I-League helping Dempo win promotion and went through the sorrow of the ISL with FC Goa. But he is a man with immense potential.
He is stylish, but he has the stomach for a fight as well; to graft on the pitch. On many occasions in the ISL, Zico played him at left wing-back as Goa played the three-man defense that served them so well last year.
To play in a position like that requires energy, discipline and most importantly, concentration, Mandar did pretty well on all those counts and that will definitely stand him in good stead ahead of the 2017 I-League, for which he has finally made the move away from Goa.
He has joined the champions, Bengaluru FC as they look to build on what has been a stunning year for them, both domestically and internationally. Having players of the caliber of Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Sunil Chhetri will only help take Mandar’s game forward and one can be sure that it is not an opportunity the Goan wants to pass on.
