New Delhi: Former French striker Nicolas Anelka is all set to play for Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) beginning next month, sources said.
The 35-year-old French striker, who played for his national team 69 times between 1998 and 2010, is reportedly on the verge of inking a three-month deal of one million Euros with the Mumbai side, owned by Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parikh.
Anelka is a footballer of vast experience and repute, having played for top clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Juventus, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain in his 18-year career.
On Thursday, the Mumbai team appointed ex-Sunderland boss Peter Reid as their manager. He will be assisted by Steve Derby, the man who had coached Mohun Bagan for a short period. The Reid deal was finalised after the Mumbai team’s attempts to get Dutch legend Ruud Gullit and then French star Marcel Dessaily did not materialise.
“Barring last minute hitches, the Anelka deal is more or less confirmed,” said a source in the ISL. “He is going to be the marquee footballer for the Mumbai team.
Anelka could be the sixth marquee footballer in the eight-team franchise based league. While former Spanish star Luis Garcia is the marquee player for Atletico de Kolkata, the 2010 Spain World Cup star Joan Capdevila has been signed by the Guwahati based North East United.
Another big signing has come in the form Alessandro Del Piero, who would be donning the jersey of Delhi Dynamos. The 39-year-old striker is considered one of the world’s finest players in recent time. Apart from winning the World Cup for Italy in 2006, he played for Juventus for 19 seasons, 11 of them as the captain.
The Kochi based Kerala Blasters have signed former England goalkeeper David James as the marquee player cum manager, while French David Trezeguet has been roped in by the Pune Franchise, Pune City FC.
In another interesting development, the Chennai franchise are believe to be in talks with former Italian World Cup winner Marco Materazzi for the post of manager. The 41-year-old former stopper back, who was famously head-butted by Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final, was regarded highly by two of the world’s most respected coaches, Marcello Lippi and Jose Mourinho.
In case the Italian agrees to take up the Chennai job, he would be the second high profile manager in the ISL after Zico.
