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Kolkata: While all the I League clubs are busy looking to rebuild their team for the season ahead, Mohun Bagan’s Scottish striker Darryl Duffy is one of the few foreign players to have been retained by his club. Duffy, who had racked up 31 goals in just 49 appearances over three seasons, joined Mohun Bagan this year. The ambitious Scottish striker who has plied his trade with Swansea City, Hull City, Hartlepool United, Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham town etc. is ambitious about helping Mohun Bagan to win the I League this season. In an informal chat with xtratime.in correspondent Debasis Sen, Duffers (as he is called by his teammates) opened up about the forthcoming I League, his preparations, expectation from the fans, his family and so on. Here are the excerpts: XT: First things first, how excited are you about playing for Mohun Bagan in I League? Duffy: I'm very excited about the I-League and can't wait to get the season started! XT: There will be a huge expectation from you to do well in I League. What are your thoughts? Duffy: There's always expectation as a foreign striker to do well and score goals, I've had that every season I've been here and it's never been a problem before and it won't be this time either. It doesn't matter whether I play for Salgaocar, Mohun Bagan or Barcelona, as soon as I'm on the pitch I forget all that and just play my natural game of football. XT: You have scored 6 goals in 8 matches in Kolkata League. But I League will be a different ball game altogether. What is your assessment about the standard of I League? Duffy: I think the I-League is always a difficult competition and this season will be extra competitive as teams will want to do well and be remembered as the Champions of the final ever edition of the I-League. XT: Why have you decided not to play in the ISL? Duffy: I turned down an offer from Mumbai City for personal reasons. XT: It must have been disappointing not to play East Bengal in Kolkata League. But now you have a chance to play against them in I-League derby? Duffy: It was very disappointing not to play against East Bengal in the CFL. It was the fixture that everybody was looking forward to and when it didn't happen it was very demoralising. It's no surprise the whole team’s performances considerably dropped after that. XT: Are you looking forward to playing alongside Sony Norde and Jeje ? Duffy: Well I'm not sure if deals have been tied down for either player at the minute, but from my point of view I want to play with the best players, that's one of the reasons I signed here, so hopefully deals for both happen sooner rather than later and I'd be delighted with that. XT: You are a fitness maniac. How are you keeping yourself fit for the I League? Duffy: I'm doing 4 days a week in the gym on strength/power work and going to Central Park with our fitness coach Garcia to work on cardio. I've had niggling muscle injuries in the previous 2 I-league campaigns so I'm working hard to prevent that for this season. XT: Must be disappointing to see Celtic not fare well in Champions League against heavyweights like Barcelona, Manchester City? Duffy: Haha no I'm a Rangers fan so I don't mind seeing Celtic struggle! On a serious note though it's very difficult for any Scottish club to get anywhere near the spending power of Man City or Barca so it's not surprising. I'd like to see more young Scottish talent given more playing time for Rangers & Celtic instead of the average foreign recruits that have come in over of the last few years. It would benefit our national team also. XT: How fascinating was your experience visiting the Taj Mahal with your family? Duffy: Like everything in India there was loads of travelling to get to Agra to visit the Taj! Especially with 2 young kids, but the boys were excellent and we absolutely loved our visit to the Taj Mahal, it's something we will cherish and look back on our whole lives. XT: How did you enjoy the festival season in Kolkata? Duffy: The festival season was great, very very busy, but a good experience!