ISL 2015: Five Indian NorthEast United players who impressed us the most this season
Despite not qualifying for the playoffs, NorthEast United had quite a decent season in this edition of the ISL, with the added bonus that most of their Indian players have really impressed. The team retained five Indian players from last season and some of them managed to impress us further this season while there are others who have joined NorthEast this season and have really mesmerized the NorthEast fans with their game. Interestingly, all Indian players in the team, apart from Goalkeeper Rehenesh TP belong to the North Eastern region of India. Here are five players who have impressed us the most this season.
#1 Sanju Pradhan
Sikkim’s very own Sanju Pradhan, who was a product of State Government’s Baichung Bhutia Football Talent Hunt, has impressed us quite a lot. The midfielder, who was juggled between the left and right wing by manager Cesar Farias, showed raw pace and excellent dribbling ability. He finished with three assists to his name and could have well been on the score sheet had he managed to gather confidence to shoot often. Sanju has been a perfect wingman to the NorthEast forward line who off late did fire.
Sanju played 11 games this season and had six shots on target. He was one of the regular names in the starting XI initially, but later on Farias started using him as a super-sub to inject more energy and fluidity into the wings. In the initial half of the league Sanju looked a little under confident with him not really attempting anything extravagant. But in the due course of time he has matured a lot and especially increased his attacking intent.
Sanju was also a part of the squad that won the inaugural version of the Indian Super League last season with Atletico de Kolkaka. He has also won two Federation Cups and an IFA Shield.