CHENNAI: The Indian Super League season may only be a couple of weeks old, but there’s already something different about the starting line-ups that teams are putting out. Coaches in the ISL are not exactly renowned for promoting hitherto-untested youngsters. There are exceptions — Chennaiyin FC developing Jerry Lalrinzuala and FC Pune City’s treatment of Ashique Kuruniyan comes to mind — but the orthodox route to an ISL club’s first team is having an eye-catching season in the I-League. This season though, a number of youngsters have already bucked that trend and come through after spending time in their respective clubs’ developmental setups.
Kerala Blasters have started both their games with 18-year-old Dheeraj Singh in goal and his U-17 World Cup teammate Mohamad Rakip in defence. While Dheeraj joined after training with Scottish club Motherwell FC, his senior first-team experience was limited to the couple of times he turned up for Indian Arrows last season in the I-League.
Rakip’s case is much more interesting. After leaving the India U-17 setup last year, he went straight to Blasters and was fielded in the I-League second division as part of their reserve side. While 21-year-old Sahal Abdul Samad did get a couple of games for Blasters last season, his performance in I-League second division seems to have made him a fixture in their starting XI this term.
Similar examples are there all over the league. FC Goa have started both their games with 18-year-old Mohammed Nawaz in goal, a player they signed in January and deployed in the Goa Pro-League. In their opener against Delhi Dynamos, FC Pune City fielded 19-year-old Jakob Vanlalhlimpuia, a player they had scouted from Mizo club Chanmari FC and whose senior experience was limited to the Mizoram Premier League. ATK gave U-17 World Cupper Komal Thatal a run-out in both matches they played.
“It was dream come true for me,” says Pune’s Jakob. “The coach is someone who is willing to trust the youngsters and he gave me this chance. There’s a lot to learn from training and playing alongside such players who have a lot of experience and have played all around the world. Now, I just want to improve and play as much as I can.”
Pune’s coach Miguel Angel Portugal says he likes trying out youngsters because of their ability to learn faster than older players. “Young players have an urge to learn. I believe that’s also because they want to prove their talent. They have so much to learn from the coaching staff and the experienced players, but most importantly, their minds are open to learning new things. That can surely lead to unearthing good talent.”
But Sanjoy Sen, currently in charge of Youth Development at ATK while also being an assistant coach to Steve Coppell, says this is something I-League clubs have been doing for quite a while. With a number of former I-League personnel now involved with ISL teams — Sen, Thangboi Singto at Blasters and Derrick Pereira at Goa are examples — it is only natural that they’ve begun repeating this practice.
“I’ve said for a long time that foreign coaches who come in at these ISL franchises are not going to know much about young Indian talent,” Sen says. “Whereas us Indian coaches have been working with or following these talents for a while. So us working closely with ISL managers have been a factor in these kids getting a chance.”vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com