Pune, ATK big gainers after top players shift base this season

Indiansuper league

The fifth edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) -- the longest yet -- is just around the corner. A new season signals new beginning -- a clean slate for all the teams, fresh challenges and an opportunity for players and managers to prove themselves.

But most importantly, a new season calls for changes to the team composition and so, the arrival of new faces.

While most teams spent the latter half of the transfer window bringing in foreign recruits, the first was all about getting the best that the league had to offer.

ISL’s all-time top-scorer Iain Hume, who had already moved four times the league’s four seasons, completed another move, this time to last year’s semi-finalists FC Pune City from Kerala Blasters.

Already equipped with one of the most potent strike partnerships in the league – Uruguayan Emiliano Alfaro and Brazilian Marcelinho – who have scored 17 goals together, the addition of Hume will only add to their firepower.

Canadian forward Hume though, has been ruled out of action for the first two months having failed to recover from an injury picked last season.

Just like Hume, manager Steve Coppell has also been on the move since he first took charge of Kerala Blasters for the 2016 season. In his first year, he led Kerala Blasters to the final where they went down to ATK in penalty shootout.

The following season (2017/18 campaign) the Englishman took over the reins of new entrants Jamshedpur FC and guided them to a modest fifth-place finish in the club’s first season. This year, Coppell will be seen at the helm of two-time champions ATK.

“I have never been a butterfly

MUMBAI: