India captain Sunil Chhetri unlikely to be a part of the ISL

The participation of India and Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri in the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) looks unlikely, according to a PTI report.

The deadline for signing Indian players under the central player pool draft is June 30 and Bengaluru FC are one of four I-League clubs who are yet to decide on whether they will loan players to IMG-Reliance.

The other three being Pune FC, Salgaocar and Sporting Clube while Churchill Brothers, who haven’t got the license to play in the I-League, are also not willing to release their players for the ISL.

“Indian Super League had set the deadline of 30th June for signing the Indian players centrally. During the early June workshop, ISL had informed the clubs of having signed 80 players from the 85-odd required," a franchisee source was quoted saying.

32 of the 80 players are either current national team players or have recently represented India like Subrata Pal, Gouramangi Singh, Nirmal Chettri, Sandip Nandy, Sandesh Jhingan, N Mohanraj and Subhashish Roychowdhury.

Meanwhile Kolkata giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan and Mumbai FC are among the clubs who have already agreed to loan their players for the ISL.

Each franchise requires 14 Indian players in a squad of 22 which will include one marquee foreigner and seven other international players. The Goa and Guwahati franchises will be allowed to take their quota of Indian players from their I-League partners Dempo and Shillong Lajong respectively.