5 players we never thought would come to the Indian Super League

A star studded football league has been knocking on the doors for long. The success of the Indian Premier League, along with the launch of the Hockey India League and the Pro Kabaddi League meant it was only imminent a glamorous football league too would rise and take the footballing world by storm.One of the early talking points about the league concentrated towards the glitzy ownership of the franchises and the potential star players who would pay a visit to the ‘sleeping giant’ and join forces directed towards waking up the giant.Technically gifted, skilful, flamboyant, armed with an ocean of experience and a long list of laurels in their kitty, the ISL has seen players of the highest standard make a bold move to the previously unexplored footballing territory that is India to ply their trade here.Although there have been quite a few surprise names in the league in either season, the 5 most unexpected players to have touched Indian soil to take their football career forward are:

#5 Florent Malouda

Florent Malouda has shown that he can still play very well at the highest level

In what is nothing less than a star studded Delhi Dynamos FC line-up for the 2015 Indian Super League, Florent Malouda is one of the big-name players in the setup and the first name on the team sheet for marquee player-manager Roberto Carlos.

The French international has a long list of honours to his name. The midfielder played most of his football for Lyon and Chelsea where he went on to reach great heights.

While he won 4 back to back titles with Lyon, he managed his one and only Premier League title with Chelsea in the 2009-10 season. But his biggest achievement to date came in 2012 where he got to lay his hands on the coveted Champions League Trophy when Chelsea edged past Bayern Munich in the final.

Having been playing in the French top tier in 2014-15 as an active member, Malouda is nothing short of a prized possession for the team from the Capital and a huge asset for the league as well, as he has definitely contributed to the better playing standards.

Malouda brings with him, an experience of having played over 400 top level games, of which 138 came for Lyon and 149 for Chelsea while the midfield maestro also made 80 appearances in the blue of France.

One of the biggest names in the ISL, the Frenchman is certainly one of the names no one would have expected to see in the ISL, atleast this soon.