It has been 11 years since an Indian player — Baichung Bhutia — first played for a foreign club. Many feel it is about time a new player represents India in the leagues abroad.
It should surprise no one that Sunil Chetri has emerged as a successor to Bhutia. For all his hard work and patience, Chetri is on the verge of rewriting history if his much-talked-about deal with America’s Major League Soccer team Kansas City Wizards (KCW) comes through.
For the coaches at KCW, the first glimpse at Chetri did the trick. The club went through numerous changes in terms of style of play in the run up to the new season. That meant they had to bring new players and after signing a midfield trio earlier this week, the club expressed its willingness to sign the diminutive Indian striker.
“Sunil trained with us for about 10 days in Phoenix and I have to say that we are really impressed with him. He had this immediate impact on all of us the moment he entered the field,” said Wizards’ assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin, who was present during Chetri’s trials.
“We’ve reshaped our roster. We wanted to adopt dynamic, attacking style of play. Sunil has few qualities that other strikers don’t. We hope he gets along with others in the squad,” Zavagnin told DNA.
Zavagnin was not ready to give out details of the negotiations. But the former US international was happy with Chetri’s performance during the trials.
“Technically, he is very sound. He is quick with and without the ball. He has this natural tendency to play under two forwards so that he can supply the final pass. At the same time, he gets into scoring positions himself. That’s an added advantage,” Zavagnin, who holds the record of maximum appearances for the Wizards, said.
While at the training, Zavagnin said Chetri struck an instant rapport with US international striker Josh Wolves and the duo spent a lot of time together. “That at least showed he wouldn’t take much time settling here…” he laughed.
But with a squad that already has five strikers, how Chetri manages to break into the playing XI has to be seen. “As we’re still finalising our roster it will be difficult to predict right now. But how he fits in the squad remains to be seen,” Zavagnin said. “We hope everything gets finalised and he joins us soon.”
