For the Indian Super League clubs, the recent transfer window was perhaps the most challenging one. After a lot of uncertainty, the FSDL (Football Sports Development Limited) announced in mid-August that the league would start from November. With such a short window available for clubs to assemble their squads, there were plenty of questions on how they would attract foreign players and convince them to come to India in the middle of a pandemic.
However, it's fair to say that the teams have done an impressive job. This season, the likes of Gary Hooper, Steven Taylor, Anthony Pilkington and Adam Le Fondre will be in action and they are footballers who have played in the English Premier League. Meanwhile, Vicente Gomez was battling it out with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the La Liga until a few seasons back. Bakary Kone spent five seasons at French giants Olympique Lyonnais and played against the cream of the crop in the UEFA Champions League.
"It was very strenuous, but it had to be a structured operation. A lot of groundwork went into the planning. The pandemic situation affects transfer dealings because it means that some players who would have agreed to a salary if there would have been no pandemic, the pandemic makes the salary go up if you want to attract top players who are leaving their secure environment to play in India. We had to make measured decisions," said Abhik Chatterjee, Head of Football Operations, Odisha FC.
When the ISL started in 2014, it grabbed eyeballs by bringing in some of the well-known names in world football. Season one had the likes of Robert Pires, Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, Freddie Ljunberg, Luis Garcia, Elano, David James and Joan Capdevilla. In the coming seasons, the likes of Lucio, Roberto Carlos, Nicolas Anelka and Diego Forlan came along. While these footballers rank among the finest to have played the sport, by the time they arrived in India, they were already retired or semi-retired.
Though they attracted plenty of fans, the sight of a 42-year-old Carlos running out as a substitute without even warming up went against footballing logic. While it was mandatory for ISL teams to have such marquee names earlier, it was made optional in 2017 and teams changed their recruiting strategies.
"The league realised that fans are knowledgeable. Now teams are improving and they are learning from their previous experiences and clubs are looking out for quality players who have played at the highest level and can still contribute," said FC Goa Technical Director Derrick Pereira suggesting that clubs are spending wisely and getting their money's worth.
While it was obvious that the likes of Carlos and Pires were past their prime, it did set the ball rolling for ISL and India was starting to be seen as a prospective destination. "I did hear about the ISL before the Blasters approached me. Asked a few English players who came over and they seemed to enjoy it," said Gary Hooper.
This was echoed by former Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor who signed for Odisha FC. "I also spoke to Peter Ramage (Kerala Blasters) who was my Newcastle United teammate who enjoyed it out here," said Taylor. Other factors are at play too.
"We are attracting top-quality coaches and they get their own players to fit their style of play. The clubs are also able to pay these players more than what they get in some other countries," said Derrick. In the likes of Le Fondre, Kone Hooper and others, teams have players who are still in their early 30s, played at the highest level and, with a lot of football left. Mumbai City goalkeeper and India international Amrinder Singh summed things up nicely.
"I get to face the likes of Le Fondre and (Bartholomew) Ogbeche in training every day and I can see how brilliant they are. It just lifts the level of the whole team and I get to improve my game. The league is becoming more competitive thanks to this," said Amrinder.