In 2014, when the Indian Super League was introduced, the league had a ‘marquee player’ rule which stipulated that all eight teams must sign one player who in their prime were considered superstars of the game.
In the inaugural season, Luis Garcia (ATK), Elano (Chennaiyin FC), Alessandro Del Piero (Delhi Dynamos), Robert Pires (FC Goa), David James (Kerala Blasters), Fredrik Ljungberg (Mumbai City FC), Joan Capdevila (NorthEast United) and David Trezeguet (FC Pune City) were announced as the marquee players.
The list boasted of World Cup winners, Champions League winners and league title winners from Europe’s top leagues and it was perfectly normal to think that any of these players could take the new league by storm. However, the truth was far from that.
Barring Elano and David James (who was the player-manager of Kerala Blasters), the other six players struggled to make the sort of impact fans expected of them. In fact, the combined goals tally of Garcia, Del Piero, Pires, Ljungberg and Trezeguet was a mere six goals in 44 matches!
While the superstars failed to live up to expectations, Iain Hume, who has never played in any of Europe’s top tiers, was named the Hero of the League in the inaugural season. His impressive outing propelled an otherwise average Kerala Blasters side to the final and endeared him to the fans.
Today, Iain Hume is the all-time leading goalscorer in the history of the competition and will surely be remembered by the football fans in the country for many more years.
The marquee signing rule was applicable in the second and third seasons also and players like Roberto Carlos, Carlos Marchena, Nicolas Anelka, Simao Sabrosa and Adrian Mutu continued the trend of marquee signings failing in the ISL.
The Marquee Players of Season 4
Going into the fourth season, the marquee player rule was scrapped. However, few clubs still brought in big names with the hope of ‘bolstering’ their squads.
Kerala Blasters were not known for making big signings previously, but the club signed Dimitar Berbatov and Wes Brown in the same season. Similarly, ATK roped in Robbie Keane to strengthen their squad.
Brown missed the start of the season with an injury and wasn’t exceptional in defence when he returned while Berbatov managed to find the back of the net only once and was only fit to play 9 games all season!
Robbie Keane was not bad though, he scored six times for a lacklustre ATK side in nine games.
The ISL clubs had to pay a lot of money to sign these superstars and when you look at the return, it is clear that the investment didn’t pay its dividends.
The Shrewd Signings and Their Success
When Kerala Blasters signed Berbatov, the furore it caused was amazing but eventually, when the going got tough for the team, the man who stepped up was Iain Hume.
Hume didn’t come to India with a reputation that preceded him. Instead, he came to India with an opportunity to make money as well as to leave a lasting impression and he has done that from season one!
Hume’s success story soon became a pattern in the ISL. Foreign players who didn’t have an outstanding career in the big leagues but possessed the right quality, passion for the game and most importantly the urge to perform came to the ISL.
Such players wanted to or maybe had to perform because the ISL offers a lot of money and fame, hence, if they don’t perform, then they may not have a contract the following season.
This is not the case with the superstars. They’ve already gotten the fame and money they needed and even if they don’t perform in the ISL, there are other opportunities.
There are other examples to validate my argument. Marcelinho of FC Pune City, Miku of Bengaluru FC, Manuel Lanzarote of FC Goa or Kalu Uche of Delhi Dynamos.
Perhaps the best example of a shrewd foreign signing would be Ferran Corominas of FC Goa. Although Coro played in the La Liga for Espanyol, Elche and Osasuna, very few Indians would have seen the Spaniard play before he joined the ISL.
When the season ends, it would be difficult to look past him for the Hero of the League award after he scored 18 goals and provided 5 assists in the league stage of the tournament!
He had to earn the adulation of the fans in India with his performances, it was not given to him on a silver platter like it is the case with superstars who come to the Indian soil. It is probably this hunger that makes these shrewd signings perfect for the Indian Super League.
These players may not get the fans excited by the mere mention of their name or drive in sponsorship with ease, but in the long run, these are the players that will benefit the league and the football in India.
(Naveen Joseph is a passionate, avid and cognisant sports fan who believes that sports make the world a better place. Although content writing is his forte, he has significant experience in video production and copywriting. All of this after graduating from IIT Kharagpur. In the long run, he hopes to infect the rest of the world with his love for sports.)
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