Mumbai, July 22: Former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia is not particularly happy with the pay packages on offer in the much-awaited Indian Super League but insists that the event won’t be detrimental to the sport either.
“I am definitely not happy with the money. I would want them to get much more than what they are getting right now, even with the ISL as well. I would have been happy if there was an auction and the players get more money. But it is a good start,” he said.
The ‘Sikkimese sniper’ said he would have preferred an auction for the players as he wasn’t satisfied with the financial package which is between Rs 15 lakh to Rs 80 lakh.
However, Bhutia does not expect any overnight changes in Indian football due to the much-hyped event.
“At the moment, I can’t say that ISL has come in and it will change Indian football and we are going to qualify for the World Cup. But it definitely is not going to damage Indian football. Right now the state where we are, realistically, we are ranked somewhere 156 so I don’t think we can go worse than this. It can only get better with the ISL coming in,” Bhutia told reporters here.
Asked if the I-League would suffer because of the ISL Bhutia said, “I won’t say there is no future for I-League, because I-league is the main tournament for us. I-league is usually a five to six months long tournament. Lajong and Dempo have already tied up with ISL franchises so there are opportunities for lot of I league teams to tie up with ISL.” (PTI)
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