Bhubaneshwar: Odisha FC in attempt to claim the top position, brought in former Spain and Barcelona forward David Villa as the head of their Global operation, who brought in an array of talented individuals to help with the operations of the club.
The club roped in Spanish coach Kiko Ramirez as the head boss of the Juggernauts and he brought in a huge plethora of foreign talents including ones who had already been seen in the tournament with different colours. Here’s taking a look a Odisha FC’s foreign Squad ahead of the tournament:
1. Aridai Cabrera : The 32-year-old Spanish wingers is known for his ability to dribble past quite a number of players with an overall success rate of 82% . Having plied his trade in Spain with clubs like RCD Mallorca, Girona FC, Betis B, Sabadell FC, Hospitalet, Valencia B, Cultural Leonesa, Las Palmas and Huracan, Cabrera holds the potential to be the ace of this season’s squad of the Juggernauts. Apart from dribbling, Cabrera is also a prolific goalscorer that Ramirez can put to use.
2. Hector Rodas: The Spanish defender holding the experience of playing against the bests, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is set to be the star of Ramirez’s defence. Gaining his experience from clubs like Levante reserve team, Elche, Betis, Cordoba, Cercle Brugge, Rodas is extremely good with aerial affairs. His commanding nature will be a huge advantage as the 33-year-old will also be trusted with building up the play at the back given his abilities. His inclusion will most definitely help in decreasing the number of goals conceded which went as high as 44 last season.
3. Liridon Krasniqi: Although being on loan from Johor Daryl Ta’zim FC till May, Krasniqi will potentially turn out to be the playmaker of the season for the Juggernauts, given the experience he gained with playing for clubs like Mlada Boleslav, Ankaraspor, Kedah Darul Aman, Melaka United and Newcastle Jets as well as three national teams Malaysia, Kosovo and Albania (U-21). The highly physical box to box midfielder is capable of gaining possession as well as holding the ball. Krasniqi will be essential in feeding the balls to his teammates for scoring along with playing deep. Even being a midfielder, Krasniqi has 20 assists along with 15 goals to his name in his most productive stint for Kedah Darul Aman.
4. Jonathas De Jesus: The Brazilian center-forward was primarily brought in to fill in the shoes of Diego Mauricio this season. The former Real Sociedad forward is a calm yet lethal finisher and will definitely run for the Golden Boot this season if his link up with Krasniqi just clicks in the right way.
5. Javi Hernandez: The Spanish midfielder has been a very important part of Antonio Habas’ side last season. Being a multi-utility player, he can score some screamers as well as create chances for his teammates. His ability of creating pin-point set pieces as Kiko Ramirez’s side anticipate to score more that last year’s tally of 25 goals this season. Playing 37 games overall, Hernandez has six assists and three goals to his name along with making 54 interceptions and 25 clearances. He is set to be one of the most standout player of Ramirez’s squad. However, he needs to works on making less fouls recieving eight yellow cards last season.
6. Victor Mongil- Every Indian football fan is well accustomed to the name of Victor Mongil. The super versatile defender was a part of Habas’ league winning 2019-20 side. Mongil’s biggest advantage is although being rock solid as a central defender he is even as good as a central defensive midfielder. Playing nine matches in the title winning side Mongil recorded 188 passes along with 297 touches. The former ATK defender had a seemingly low season last year with Dinamo Tbilisi making only four appearances, although being majorly effective with ATK making 48 clearances and 11 interceptions cleanly receiving only one yellow card. Mongil has already been selected as the skipper of the team along with the likes of Rodas and Vinit Rai showing the trust the gaffer has on him.
