Despite interest in Atletico de Kolkata, Manchester City eyes Mumbai City FC as prime ISL target for investing

Mumbai City FC have always remained City Group’s favoured team

Premier League giants Manchester City and Liverpool have held talks with Indian Super League champions Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) regarding buying a minority stake in the club Sportskeeda had earlier reported. However, ATK who won the tournament in 2014 and 2016, are not the first priority for investment in India for the Abu Dhabi-based City Football Group who also own Premier League giants Manchester City, Sportskeeda can reveal.

It is, in fact, Mumbai City FC, that the have a keen eye on, league sources tell Sportskeeda.

“City wants to buy in India, that is for sure. There are talks ongoing with them (ATK), but Mumbai was/is the preferred option because of it being a mega city,” said the person who is close to the situation on the condition of anonymity.

ATK, who will look to defend their title this season, might even change their name in the near future with parent club Atletico Madrid all but pulling the plug on their investment in India. The La Liga giants have been at loggerheads with their Indian affiliate regarding what they are calling ‘unfair profit sharing margins’. Whilst Sanjeev Goenka and Sourav Ganguly have pumped in money from their end, Atletico are believed to incur all the costs in terms of stay, travel, food, training etc

The Spaniards are also believed to have been the major players in bringing the likes of Habas, Molina, Borja Fernandes, Postiga and Luis Garcia (ATK's first marquee signing) to Kolkata - around whom the team has built their fulcrum.

Also read: Meet Princeton Rebello, who rejected Watford FC to keep his dream of playing for India alive

Thus, we might see not only a whole new look at ATK in terms of brand, colours and jerseys but also in terms of mentality and style of play. 

However, these things might not happen as quickly as fans might wish them to progress. 

“These things tend to take months to occur. City have been negotiating in China for two years with no breakthrough,” added our source.

The City Football Group who also have investments in the Major League Soccer (MLS) with New York City FC, A-League with Melbourne City FC, J1 League with Yokohama F. Marinos, and the Uruguayan second division with Atletico Torque. 

And it is not the first time that the City group had tried to buy their way into Indian football.

"They had turned a favourable eye towards FC Goa in 2014 when the ISL initially took off. But nothing really came from that. So it’s a long way ahead,” quipped our source.

The first act of next season’s ISL will be conducted on July 23 in Mumbai. ATK are likely to retain the services of Indian internationals Debjit Majumdar and Pritam Kotal for the upcoming season which is set to be played over five months.