Forwards
While looking for players to provide the much-needed width in our Free Agents 11, we didn’t have to look beyond Kerala Blasters. With both Seityasen Singh and Prasanth K, now out of contract at Kerala, clubs could be lining up for the signatures of these two wingers. Seityasen who started his career in the Second Division I-League with Royal Wahingdoh soon made surges in the footballing world as the Manipuri guided his Meghalayan side into the top division and then went on to score a hat-trick against Salgaocar in his first season in top-flight football. Seityasen fittingly started his ISL career with his local club, the North East United FC and after spending 2 seasons with them, he joined the Delhi Dynamos for the 2017/18 season and had a very fruitful season. He did miss out on 2018/19 ISL campaign due to injury, but was up and running for the Blasters for season 2019/20. Seityasen is an asset to any team because to compliment his attacking prowess, he helps out defensively too and any winger who backtracks to help out his full-back is always an indispensable weapon. Prasanth K too started his ISL career with his local club the Kerala Blasters and has represented the club for 3 seasons. He has earned plaudits from David James himself and his selection to this Free Agents 11 was a no brainer. Prasanth has gone from strength to strength each season as a footballer and the boy from Kozhikode who has represented the Blasters on more than 30 occasion, could finally be saying goodbye and moving on to greener pastures.
And to score goals galore for our Free Agents 11, who better than the “Mizo Sniper” Jeje Lalpekhlua himself. Jeje has been with Chennaiyin since the advent of the ISL and is the leading goal scorer for the Marina Machans in ISL history and has guided the side to two ISL championship. Jeje scored 9 goals and was the team’s top scorer during the 2017/18 ISL season as Chennaiyin went on to win their 2nd ISL title. Jeje has also won the Footballer of the Year award in 2016 for his exploits in front of goal. In his 69 matches in the ISL, Jeje has found the back of the net on 23 instances and have also assisted in scoring a goal on 7 occasions. He had a disastrous 18/19 season, as the defending champions, Chennaiyin struggled for form as did their star striker. Jeje only managed a single goal that season as Chennaiyin finished rock bottom in the 10 team league. He missed out on playing last season due to a nagging knee injury due to which he had to go under the knife. Jeje is officially now a free agent after 6 years at the Marina Arena and his ability as a footballer and a goalscorer will titillate major clubs to look towards him to resolve their goal scoring issues. It will be fascinating to see where the Mizo Sniper plays next season and also if the knee surgery has taken a chunk out of his talent or we get back Jeje the way we remember him.
