ISL 2018: ATK sign ex-PSG forward Everton Santos for the upcoming season
What's the story?
In a major signing ahead of the 2018/19 Indian Super League season, Kolkata based club ATK roped in former Paris Saint Germain striker Everton Santos. This is the club’s final foreign signing in the transfer window as stated on their official Twitter account.
In case you didn't know...
The Brazilian played in the ISL last season for Mumbai City FC, before he shifted his loyalty to Brazilian club Botafogo Futebol Clube. The footballer started his senior career in the year 2005 at Santo Andre. Corinthians, Paris Saint Germain and Flumenese are the bigger clubs he played for during his heydays.
The heart of the matter
This is a very impressive signing by the Sourav Ganguly-owned football team; it will add flair in the attacking zone which already consists of Nigerian Kalu Uche along with Jayesh Rane and Balwant Singh. Former Manchester City manager Steve Coppell was given the responsibility in charge of the team after his stint with debutants Jamshedpur FC last season.
Everton Santos is ATK’s sixth foreigner in the squad ahead of the new season and the unit is looking pretty strong. The Indian composition in the squad is also quite remarkable with the likes of Balwant Singh, Prabir Das, Pronay Halder and shot stopper Debjit Majumder. Everton played 18 matches for the Mumbai-based club last year and scored seven goals.
What's next?
With just over a month left for the much-awaited Indian Super League to kick-off, the ten teams are making their last minute preparations. ATK is one of the most successful teams in the history of the competition with two titles in four years.
ATK finished at the 9th position last year, their worst finish. Coppell will shoulder the burden of the whole team and simultaneously make sure the men in red and white stripes at least make it to the knockout stages this time. The first match of this year’s ISL will be played between ATK and Kerala Blasters FC at the Salt Lake Stadium, in Kolkata.