After draft and auction, Mumbai City and Chennaiyin are the best ISL teams on paper

Mumbai City FC and Chennaiyin FC are perhaps the best teams in the Indian Super League this year. In fact, Mumbai also had the best team in the ISL last year on paper, but then finished second from bottom in the league. So while big names in a team may not mean anything, it’s at least an indicator of what to expect from a side.

This year Mumbai have also changed their manager (player-manager Nicolas Anelka replaces Peter Reid) and signed Indian football’s poster boy Sunil Chhetri for Rs 1.20 crore at the auction. In addition, they also signed highly rated youngster Brandon Fernandes, proven defender Lalchhuanmawania Fanai, utility man Ashutosh Mehta and star left back Keegan Pereira in the draft.

Pratesh Shirodkar and goalkeepers Debjit Majumdar and Albino Gomes were also signed in the draft.

Most importantly though, Mumbai have the most fearsome strike-pairing of the ISL in Anelka and Chhetri. The Frenchman and European Championship winner with multiple league titles across Europe (including the Premier League) is also Mumbai’s manager — and while that seems like a decision that could backfire, having Anelka and Chhetri play in tandem up top is a prospect that most Indian fans had never imagined two years ago.

Mumbai City have let go of some big names like right back Syed Rahim Nabi and German defender Manuel Friedrich but have retained India’s No 1 Subrata Paul and forward Subhash Singh. Winger Gabriel Fernandes will also play for Mumbai — adding more Goa flavour with Brandon Fernandes.

Mumbai spent Rs 3.6 crore in the auction and draft. They still have Rs 1.27 crore left in their domestic player purse and 11.21 crore left to spend on foreign players, which is a phenomenal amount of money given the roster they already have.

Meanwhile, Chennaiyin have retained the same manager — Marco Materazzi — and have Rs 1.84 crore left to spend on domestic players. They have Rs 6.06 crore to spend on foreign players.

However, they have been quite active in the open market. Last year’s ISL final hero for Atletico de Kolkata Apoula Edele (GK) is on their roster. They’ve retained their superstar Brazilian Elano (eight goals in nine games last year) along with French defender Bernard Mendy and Brazilian midfielder Bruno Pelissari (four goals in 11 games last year). Fikru Teferra (five goals for ATK last season), another Atletico big name in ISL 2014, has been signed while Indian forwards Jeje Lalpekhlua and Balwant Singh have been retained.

Chennaiyin have also shored up their backline with Indian players. They got goalkeeper Karanjit Singh for base price Rs 60 lakhs at the auction and picked defenders Dhanpal Ganesh and Dhanachandra Singh in the draft — a pair that have already got a taste for international football. Midfielder Thoi Singh, purchased for Rs 86 lakhs in the auction, will anchor the defence. Materazzi has a squad heavy in defence and attack and a couple of good midfielders are likely to be added to the squad. Mehrajuddin Wadoo, FC Pune City’s popular right back, was signed in the open market.

Another player — Zakeer Mundampara — was added from the draft for Rs 23 lakhs. Zakeer is just 25 years old and has already played for four I-League clubs.

If we were to pick the third best team on paper of ISL 2015, it would be Atletico de Kolkata. It’s easier to judge them because they’ve already got 23 of 26 players in their squad. Manager Antonio Lopez Habas has been quite generous in letting players go but the team has been active during the open market. Nabi and Kerala Blasters star Iain Hume (three assists and five goals in ISL 2014) were signed on and the team’s cog in the midfield last year, Ofentse Nato, has been retained.

Spaniards Josemi and Borja Fernandes have also decided to stay with the club and Tiri and Jaime Gavilan have been brought in from Spain. It looks a set squad — with Arnab Mondal, Valdo, Rino Anto and Denzil Franco also on the teamsheet.

What gives Mumbai and Chennaiyin the edge is the money they still have to spend. With about 50 percent of the squad in place, both these teams can pinpoint their weaknesses using Kolkata’s template and strengthen their weak areas with due research over the course of the next three months (or until the foreign draft). On the day of the auction though, both teams were pretty active and made the most of their monetary advantage.

Kolkata have a lot of players from last season — but have also lost a few important ones. It will be interesting to see how they defend their title against the likes of Mumbai and Chennaiyin.