Football is gradually turning out to be a huge business in India. Football fans' eyes were transfixed on the recently concluded Indian Super League Players' draft on Sunday in Mumbai. Some players like Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Anas Edathodika, who had a price tag of Rs 1.10 crore each, were the big buys.
Atletico de Kolkata, which has now renamed their team name as ATK (Amar Tamar Kolkata), have done some great business signing the likes of Lyngdoh, but they did face competition from Kerala Blasters as they were also interested in the prolific midfielder. After their failure to sign the midfielder, Kerala bought Rino Anto as their first pick.
Besides the Shillong-born player, ATK also acquired the services of striker Robin Singh who hopes to shine for the Kolkata-based side.
Many were quite surprised with the new ISL entrant, Bengaluru FC, as they did not even go for Lyngdoh. Was it his price tag that led to this? Their most expensive buy for the Bengaluru club was Lenny Rodrigues for Rs 60 lakh.
However, the other new entrant of the ISL, Jamshedpur FC, did not look at the money it seems while going for major stars. Coming in with a clean team slate in the draft, and with the first pick in the opening two rounds, they signed two expensive players in the form of Edathodika and for Rs 87 lakh, they got the superman Subrata Paul.
After Jamshedpur went for Paul, Mumbai City went in for another goalkeeper, bracketed in the top 10 expensive players list, Arindam Bhattacharya. They also bought quality forward Balwant Singh.
Delhi Dynamos signed one of the expensive defenders in the draft, Pritam Kotal. FC Goa did not go all out, but they signed Narayan Das and Pranoy Halder for Rs 58 lakh each.
However, it is interesting to note that Chennaiyin FC, NorthEast United and FC Pune City did not buy any of the players from the top 10 expensive players list.
Here are the top 10 players and the team, which signed them
1) Eugeneson Lyngdoh (midfielder) - Rs 1.10 crore – ATK
2) Anas Edathodika (defender) - Rs 1.10 crore - Jamshedpur FC
3) Subrata Paul (goalkeeper) - Rs 87 lakh – Jamshedpur FC
4) Pritam Kotal (defender) - Rs 75 lakh – Delhi Dynamos
5) Robin Singh (striker) - Rs 65 lakh – ATK
6) Balwant Singh (striker) – Rs 65 lakh – Mumbai City
7) Arindam Bhattacharya (goalkeeper) – Rs 64 lakh - Mumbai City
8) Rino Anto (defender) – Rs 63 lakh – Kerala Blasters
8) Lenny Rodrigues (midfielder) – Rs 60 lakh -- Bengaluru FC
9) Narayan Das (defender) – Rs 58 lakh - FC Goa
10) Pronay Halder (midfielder) – Rs 58 lakh – FC Goa
