ISL 2017: 5 Indian prodigies who played abroad and where they are now

Football in India has been on the rise, and we have seen a number of players who have gotten the chance to play in countries that are considered to be traditional heavyweights of football. To add to that, the growing relations between cubs in the ISL and other foreign clubs have helped facilitate such moves.

While most of the players who got such opportunities abroad eventually did come back to India as better players, some footballers, sadly, went into relative obscurity after their foreign sojourns. On that note, let's take a look at five such players who went abroad, but have not been able to make a mark in Indian football as of yet.

Varin Mehta

Although somewhat an unknown quantity back in the day, Varin Mehta created history by becoming only the fourth player in Indian football history to join a European club, when Belgian club Royal Antwerp FC signed the young striker. The then 21-year-old had big shoes to fill, as the only other Indians to have preceded him in this feat were none other than the likes of Mohammed Salim (Celtic), Bhaichung Bhutia (Bury FC), and Sunil Chhetri (Kansas City).

Mehta had signed a one-year contract with Royal Antwerp and mainly managed to play for the Belgian Second Division side’s reserves side. He did, however, manage to make it to the first team on a few occasions, although they were mainly in friendlies.

After his stint in Belguim, Varin struggled to find a place in the top flight of Indian football, and was last seen playing in the lower leagues in Mumbai.