Suman Chakravorty: The Indian Super League 2017-18 season is all set to explode with a renovated structure, as the cash-rich league will again have some top international footballers, who will wave the pulse of each and every football fan in the forthcoming season. Here goes the 5 players, who can steal the show in the 2017-2018 season.
Robbie Keane: One of the biggest signings of the season. Former Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur forward Robbie Keane moved to Los Angeles Galaxy in 2011, it seemed to be his last port-of-call in what had been a celebrated career.
As Republic of Ireland’s all-time top scorer with 68 international goals to his name, the clinical marksman was best remembered for his time at Tottenham where he notched 122 goals in 306 appearances.
Marcelinho: Brazilian Marcelo Leite Pereira, more commonly known as Marcelinho, is the star signing for FC Pune City this year. Delhi Dynamos’ loss could be Pune’s gain, as they swooped in with an offer to convince the ISL 2016 topscorer to sign for them and spearhead their attack alongside Alfaro and Diego Carlos.
Dimitar Berbatov: Dimitar Berbatov was roped in as a marquee signing by the club ahead of its fourth attempt at clinching the trophy and the former Manchester United striker is expected to make a huge difference to the team that reached the final and lost to ATK twice in the last three seasons. The ‘King of First Touch’ will surely keep Kochi buzzing and it’ll be interesting to see how Meulensteen makes use of the elegant forward in his tactical setup.
Wes Brown: Manchester United legend Wes Brown possesses tonnes of quality and experience as a defender but he also very good with the ball at his feet and it’s not often that ISL has featured a player like Brown in its three years of running so far. He will most likely be paired with fan-favourite Sandesh Jhingan, who has improved leaps and bounds since his first season in ISL. Both of these players make for a strong first team centre-back pairing.
Sameehg Doutie: The 28-year-old plied his trade for ATK in the previous two editions of the league and played a significant part as the team won the coveted title last season under the guidance of Jose Molina. Now it’s time for him to replicate the performances for new ISL franchise Jamshedpur FC. Doutie, who is blessed with pace aplenty, has scored five goals in his ISL career so far apart from numerous assists.