Daniel Lalhlimpuia divides a lot of fans in the Indian Football Circuit. A fox in the box with an eye for a goal is the perfect way to describe Daniel.
Having made his debut in the 2015-16 season of the I-League for Bengaluru FC, much was expected of Daniel given his initial performances at such a tender age. Some even considered him to be the ideal successor to Sunil Chhetri and the comparisons only grew when he made his debut for the National Team as an 18 year old, coming on as a substitute replacing the Legend himself.
But his career has not been smooth ever since. Failing to muster a starting spot in the BFC XI after they moved to the ISL, Daniel left Bengaluru for greener pastures and joined Delhi Dynamos. Although he did not start the matches initially, Andrija Kaluderovic’s poor performances meant that Daniel eventually got his chances. He scored a total of 5 goals in 15 matches for Delhi that season. In the recent season, he played for Odisha FC and failed miserably to say the least. Due to the presence of players like Aridane Santana earlier on in the season and Manuel Onwu in the later stages, the centre forward slot was never in for a competition. Thus, Daniel had to play in unnatural positions and had no fixed position throughout the season. He played all across the front 3 while also playing as a second striker and attacking midfielder at times. He got only 6 starts and came on as a substitute in 10 matches as he failed to ripple the back of the net even once.
With Daniel having a contract at Odisha until 2022, it is only sensible for him to secure a loan move to an I-League club where he gets sufficient playing time as a striker.
There has never been a question as far as Daniel’s potential is concerned but it’s time now that he turns that potential into performance and in case he can do it, he might just turn out to be the successor to Sunil Chhetri, as it was once expected of him.