ISL 2017: Jamshedpur FC sign former ISL winner Sameehg Doutie
One of the two new entrants into the 2017-18 Indian Super League, Jamshedpur FC, have confirmed their second foreign signing in Sameehg Doutie. The South African winger won the title last season with ATK and was among the most creative players in the league.
In an announcement made by the club earlier today, Doutie was said to have put pen to paper with the Jamshedpur outfit for next season's new-look ISL.
Doutie was a key member of Jose Molina's ATK team that lifted the ISL title last season and earlier in the summer issued a come and get me plea to ISL clubs. With Steve Coppell at the helm at Jamshedpur FC, Doutie will work under a familiar figure in ISL quarters.
The 28-year-old becomes Jamshedpur's second foreign signing after the Spanish defender Tiri, another former ISL winner with ATK.
Having had a fine ISL domestic draft where they drafted in the joint most number of players, Coppell and his assistant Ishfaq Ahmed have gone about their dealings in the transfer market with ease. With Doutie and Tiri to complement the likes of Anas Edathodika, Mehtab Hossain and Bikash Jairu, the new team owned by Tata Steel look to be early favourites for the title next season.
Along with Jamshedpur FC, Bengaluru FC are also set to join the ISL next season. With two new teams, the structure of the popular domestic league will change considerably this time out.
Doutie comes in with a fine reputation in the ISL, clocking ten assists in the last two seasons. He will add more creativity to the Jamshedpur attack this season. This will be the South African's third successive ISL campaign. He last played at Ajax Cape Town before being released last month. He has also played at U-20 and U-23 levels for the South African national team.
The new ISL season kick starts on 17th November this year. More than 90 matches are set to be played over a period of four months in ISL-4, as Coppell looks to go one step further this time out with a different set of players and a new team. The former Reading manager took Kerala Blasters to the final in 2016 but were beaten by Tiri and Doutie's ATK.
Also Read: ISL 2017: Spanish defender Tiri joins Jamshedpur FC