Almost a year ago, a whole host of marquee football players landed on Indian shores as the Indian Super League made an explosive start.
Italy’s World Cup-winning legend Alessandro Del Piero, the league’s biggest draw, led a revolution that also included Arsenal greats Robert Pires and Fredrik Ljungberg, Italian greats Alessandro Nesta and Marco Materazzi, and Brazilian legend Zico to name a few.
The implicit promise was of a league that would gradually grow bigger, better and bolder with every season. This meant the continued arrival of not only superstar players, but a gradual shift towards more current stars.
However, with only a few days to go for the July 31 deadline before which the clubs must declare their marquee players, the follow-up to a red-hot first season has been unexpectedly lukewarm ahead of the second.
Of the eight designated marquee players from the first season, only Elano (Chennaiyin FC) will return for the 2015 edition. Nicolas Anelka, Materazzi and Zico are the other big names whom the league has retained from the inaugural season.
Three clubs – champions Atletico de Kolkata, FC Pune City and Kerala Blasters FC – are yet to announce their respective marquee players. Rumours suggesting the arrival of Didier Drogba in Kolkata appear to be far-fetched, while Kerala have only been linked to former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise.
The other five clubs haven’t set the world alight either, with Portuguese winger Simao Sabrosa (NorthEast United FC) and Brazilian defenders Lucio (FC Goa) and Robert Carlos (Delhi Dynamos FC) the only new faces to arrive.
There is a three-fold reason behind why recruitment units at ISL clubs aren’t producing fireworks to follow in the footsteps of last season.
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