ISL 2018: "Not the first time Miku had a foreign offer, he is going nowhere," says Bengaluru FC CTO Mandar Tamhane
Everything's been perfect for Bengaluru FC this season...right till the end, when they lost the ISL final at the hands of Chennaiyin FC. In fact, even in the final, they had shot into an early lead, as their talisman Sunil Chhetri nodded in an Udanta Singh cross to score the fastest goal inan ISL final.
However, everything went haywire since then, culminating in a 3-2 loss in the summit clash, as the Blues ended runners-up, despite finishing at the top in the league stage by a big margin.
Following the final, BFC's top scorer Fedor Miku came out in the media, stating that he has offers from Chinese clubs, who are willing to pay six-seven times the wage that he is currently getting. The Venezuelan went on to state that the club should either let him go, or give him a pay hike.
When contacted about this issue, Bengaluru FC chief technical officer Mandar Tamhane denied the speculations about a Chinese offer for Miku.
"I have not seen any offers for Miku from China yet, so as of now, he is still a BFC player," Tamhane said to Sportskeeda. "He still has another year remaining on his contract."
However, the BFC CTO went on to state that the club has received a number of offers before this. In fact, A Brazilian club had approached Bengaluru for a possible transfer for Miku.
"He is one of our best players and our top scorer this season. So, of course, there’ll be a lot of interest in him. The quality player that he is, he is bound to attract some interest," said Tamhane.
"Around September, we had a few offers for him from Brazil. But that’s all that was there to it. We wanted him to play for us, and that has not changed one bit," he further stated.
A Deja Vu from China?
Earlier this year, Bengaluru FC became the first Indian team to sell a player for a substantial transfer fee, as Zhejiang Lucheng signed him for USD 1.5 million.
About the transfer, Tamhane said, "Edu was also one of our top players this season. He scored two goals and got five assists for us. So when we had the offer from China, we had to assess a lot of things.
"Yes, he was an important player for us, but he was being offered a lot more by the Chinese club. In such a situation, you have to assess whether forcing a player to stay would be beneficial for the club. Also, they were offering a substantial amount of transfer fee for him," he continued.
Hence, the Blues decided to part ways with the Spaniard, as all the parties involved were happy with the entire deal.
"The player is happy with his wages at the Chinese club, the Chinese club is happy as they have signed a top player, and we are also happy that we have received a substantial transfer fee," he concluded.