If Manchester City played in ISL for 3 seasons, they wouldn't go and win EPL: Sunil Chhetri's analogy on importance of quality competition
For over a decade, Sunil Chhetri has been a shining light amid the mediocrity of Indian football, becoming his own strongest competitor. Until his international retirement last month, the 39-year-old made and broke his own records time and again.
However, the talismanic forward believes that a player is only as good as the competition he faces. To hammer home the importance of quality competition, in a podcast with Raj Shamani, Chhetri narrated a hypothetical situation:
"I'll get a lot of flak for this. But I'll give you crazy hypothetical situation. Manchester City dominates the Premier League and they've won it multiple times in the last five years. You can always bet they'll win."
"Now, bring Man City to the ISL, and for three years they're going to play in the ISL hypothetically. But obvious they're going to win it. For three years they play at this level with the same team, same manager, and they win the league three times. After playing here for that period, they go back to the Premier League, I can bet they'll not win the league," he added.
Chhetri goes on to explain why he feels the EPL champions would be faced with such a fate after plying their trade in India and then returning to the English league:
"What changed? They have the same team, same players, same coaches. But what changed? The players they were playing against."
"I'm not trying to demean our league. I'm saying after a point you become like the ones who play with or against. It takes time, it doesn't happen in a day. If Messi comes here, sends to weeks, then goes back, he's not going to change. But after more or less three years, difference starts showing. Then you become the kind of player you play with," he elucidated.
"The quality they had was different" - Sunil Chhetri reveals foreign players in ISL who helped improve his game
While he continued to explain in detail about the contribution of teammates and oppositions in elevating the level of a player, Sunil Chhetri was questioned during the podcast about players who helped him take his own game to his level.
"There are so many. Because you're talking about foreigners I'll give you some foreign names. In my team was someone called John Johnson, an Englishman, and Miku. They were different. Then Dimas [Delgado] from Spain," he averred.
John Johnson was a no-nonsense center-back who was one of the first international signings of the then-newly created I-league team Bengaluru FC. He served alongside Chhetri until the 2017-18 season and established himself as one of the finest defenders to grace Indian shores.
Meanwhile, Miku had a brief stint with BFC but his partnership with Chhetri up front led the Blues to the ISL final in their debut season. On the other hand, Dimas Delgado had a five-year stint with Bengaluru and became a fan-favorite for the composure and calmness he brought into the middle of the park.
But what exactly made these players special? Chhetri answered:
"The quality they had was different. Qualities like agility, running, touch, focus, and game IQ, which make a player, were all a level or two better in them. And it's because of the system that they come from. It's because of what they've done and natural talent. To make a player a lot of verticles have to come together."