Leicester City pulled off a Cinderella story, by defying the odds to become Premier League Champions. The club’s success is being celebrated as a triumph of passion over money. However, little do people know about a short stint of an Indian player within the club’s hierarchy.
While training in South Africa at the African Soccer Development (ASD) school, current Mohun Bagan midfielder Brandon Fernandes received a surprise call-up from the Foxes youth academy for a trial. Then playing in the Championship, Nigel Pearson’s Leicester City were fighting it out for a play-off spot, far from the lofty heights of Premier League success.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, he said, “Honestly, I was not ready at that point for England. The physicality was very high and I was at the grooming stage then. But the entire coaching staff spoke highly of my on the ball ability, it’s my off the ball ability, which let me down.”
Even then you could see Vardy’s confidence, so energetic: Brandon
Groomed in the Salgaocar Youth setup, Brandon had the chance to play alongside one of the Premier League’s top scorers Jamie Vardy and winger Jessie Lingard. He said, “At that point neither Vardy nor Lingard were in the first team. They had a match against Nottingham Forest the previous day, the players who didn’t play that match were training the next day. So I was also invited to play with them.”
Talking about Vardy, he said, ”Even at that point, you could see his confidence. He stood out with the ball, whenever he received the ball, he immediately knew what to do. As soon as he let go of it, he knew where to run. The key there was that he trained like it was the biggest match of his life.”
Despite impressing the coaches, Brandon was not offered and left in November 2012. He would then go onto trial for Reading FC, who were playing the Premier League at the time.
He said, “Honestly, I trained with the first team then, and I trained in Leicester as well. There was hardly any difference apart from one being a Premier League club, and the other being a Championship one.
Brandon was first seen by UK Parliament member Keith Vaz, during one of his Goa trips. He termed Brandon a ‘special talent,’ helping him out during his time in the United Kingdom.
“Actually, I was not used to the physicality,” Brandon added. “Also, they wanted somebody directly to join the main team, which I wasn’t ready for. If I was in their developmental squad, I would make it over a year for sure.
“Even in South Africa when I was playing second division, I was really bad the first year, but by the third year, I did really well. So it was all about the timing.”
Now nursing a serious knee injury, Brandon will be out of action till September. However, he still harbours dreams of playing the Indian Super League (ISL) very soon. He added, “My main focus is to play the ISL, if I get to play for FC Goa it will be even better. But, I am open to any offer.”
