Indian Football Transfers: NorthEast United rope in Dutch defender Kai Heerings
Indian Super League (ISL) side NorthEast United has roped in Dutch central defender Kai Heerings on a free transfer for the upcoming season. The Highlanders got the better of A-League side Melbourne City to win the transfer race. He is the sixth foreign signing for the Highlanders as they look to better their last year's performance where they ended up one step short of the final.
Kai Heerings began his football career at Ajax from the academy sides and made his professional debut with a lower division Dutch club, FC Utrecht in 2011. With impressive defensive outings for the club, he joined Dutch Second Division side FC Cambuur in 2016 and was subsequently loaned out to Helmond Sport for a season in the same division. He left his native country and made his first international move in after his loan spell with Sport in 2016 when he joined Austrian Top Division side SKN St. Pölten.
With not so so many games under his belt, Heerings was forced to move to a lower division German side, FC Homburg to get some reasonable playing time. He returned back to his country in grand fashion, when he signed a contract with four times Eerste Divisie Champions Fortuna Sittard in 2017 and helped his side to earn promotion to the Eredivisie in the same season before joining the Highlanders in India as he explores newer territories and makes his debut outside Europe.
Besides being a professional footballer, Kai Heerings is also a very successful entrepreneur. He along with his brother-in-law came up with a Gaming Console Case titled 'JZ Game Case 2.0' which lets one enjoy gaming on PS4, Xbox and PS3 on the move. The product is extremely popular among footballers across Europe including Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Kylian Mbappe, John Terry and Virgil Van Djik.
Heerings' arrival will allow the Highlanders to have some stability at the back as he would join Croatian defender Mislav Komorski to lead the defensive line. With Indians like Wayne Vaz and Robert Lalthlamuana in the side, the defence is shaping up quite well.