The anticipation rises with each passing moment, and the eight franchisees are no less excited than the football fans, as everyone eagerly waits for the Indian Super League 2015 auction and the domestic player draft at Palladium Hotel in Mumbai on Friday, 10 July.
Gracing the event will be football greats including Zico (FC Goa manager), Nicolas Anelka (Mumbai City FC manager), Marco Matterazzi (Chennaiyin FC manager) and World Cup winner Roberto Carlos (Delhi Dynamos manager and player).
Besides them, a host of Bollywood stars and cricketers are believed to be present for the auction. These include Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Ranbir Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan.
The eight ISL franchisees have been buzzing all day on Twitter, asking fans to give them their opinions on the player they should go for on the D-day, and the social media platform has been inundated with feedbacks.
Some opinions of the Twitterati were re-tweeted by the respective ISL teams:
Atletico de Kolkata
Ashween - "@atletidekolkata Go for Debjit Majumdar & we're also too excited to know our marquee player #ISLPicks"
Aasif Wali - "@indsuperleague Jackichand Singh will bring joy to @atletidekolkata Fans, Like me... #islpicks #HeroIsl"
Priyojit Mukherjee - "@atletidekolkata Go for Sunil chhetri , Brandon Fernandes ,Anas"
Chennaiyin FC
Yash Tulsyan - "Imagine a forward line up with Fikru, Elano and Sunil Chhetri .. Won't that be something .. ##ISLPicks GO @ChennaiyinFC @IndSuperLeague"
Jagapathy - "@ChennaiyinFC We need Debjit Majumder or Lalthuammawia Ralte as a GK #ISLPicks #CHE"
Arunprabhu - "@ChennaiyinFC Go for #dhanpalganesh #ISLPicks #CHE"
Delhi Dynamos
Shivang Dogra - "@DelhiDynamos please consider a bid for @chetrisunil11 an awesome striking option and a leader #ISLPicks #dynamos2title @IndSuperLeague"
Luke Shaw - "@IndSuperLeague @robin_singh_23 Is the true destroyer of defenses #Hulk Perfect signing for @DelhiDynamos #ISLPicks"
Baljit Rihal - "Would be great if .@DelhiDynamos sign young local lad Aayushmaan Chaturvedi who plays for @Mohun_BaganAC #ISLPicks"
NorthEast United FC
Ricky G - "@NEUtdFC @IndSuperLeague Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Jackichand Singh & Seityasen Singh... bring d lads home!!"
SportsIn - "@NEUtdFC @IndSuperLeague Thoi Singh should be a good addition. He is fast & agile. Plushe would be a crowd puller & home crowd"
Kirtivardhan Singh - "@NEUtdFC please pick sensational uttam rai #ISLPicks"
Mumbai City FC
Khalid Khan - "@MumbaiCityFC plzz bring @sunilchetri @SandeshJhingan @andremoritz10 @tiago1506 specially & @Balwant_Singh17 @jejefanai plzz bring them"
Shubham Taranekar - "@MumbaiCityFC Sign Arata izumi, would love to see him play at Mumbai, One of the best CM. My Pick- Rino Anto -) A strong RB,will play the same role that Jinghan did for KBFC last year! #ISLPicks"
Ajinkya - "@mumbaicityfc as we have great midfilder like anelka then must go for chhetri n Thoi #ISLPicks"
Kerala Blasters
Jerry Job - "@KBFCOfficial #ISLPicks. We need to strengthen our midfield as our back was always strong & we have added Rafi. Hence, Jackichand!"
Iamshaleel - "@kbfcofficial #AnasEdathodika would be 'wall' at the back line.. Also he is a local boy.. #ISLPicks"
Nicks - "@KBFCOfficial chhetri should be priority especially since hume has moved on #ISLPicks"
FC Goa
Soccer.soul - "@FCGoaOfficial @IndSuperLeague Cavin Lobo or Brendan and Augustine"
Senor Bellerin - "@FCGoaOfficial @IndSuperLeague Brandon, another local & a classy player. Jakichand/Chettri are good too. Depends on zicos plans #ISLPicks"
Sagar Naik - "@fcgoaofficial Augustin Fernandes, Brandon Fernandes, Victorino Fernandes #ISLPicks"
FC Pune City might comparatively not be too active on the social media, but they must also be engaged in crucial discussions ahead of the big day.
ISL rules state that a franchise can have up to 17 domestic players. However, as the maximum total squad size for each club is 26 players, the number of domestic players bought by a side at the auction will reduce the number of international players that a club can purchase.
WHERE TO WATCH LIVE
Get the Pool B Player Auction Report HERE
Get the Player Auctions Sales Report HERE
Indian fans can catch the event live from 9am IST on Star Sports 2 and Star HD 2
Live streaming available on Hotstar and starsports.com. (Live streaming not available in the UK and the US.)