Indian Super League side FC Pune City on Friday secured the services of Brazilian forward Diego Carlos de Oliveira for the upcoming 2017-18 ISL Season. The 29 year old who has played for Brazilian clubs Flamengo and Corinthians Alagoano became the seventh signing of club ahead of the fourth edition of the league.
The Brazilian was delighted in joining and calling the ISL a ‘the beginning of a new chapter’ in his football career he said, “I have heard great things about the league as well as FC Pune City. It will be good to play alongside my country-mates Jonatan and Marcelinho. Expect me to give my 100% for the club to ensure the fans have reasons to celebrate.”
Born in Campos Altos the winger started his youth career with Flamengo, before moving to third division club Duque de Caxias in 2009. Having made just one appearance for the club in the entire season Diego moved to Corinthians Alagoano in the next season.
But failing to make a mark in Brazil, Carlos shifted to Russia to play in the Russian Premier League. He played for clubs like Nizhny Novgorod and FC Ufa before moving back to Brazil with Sao Bento in the early months of 2017. However, having played for so many clubs it was only in his five years stint with FC Ufa where he made 95 appearances scoring eight goals and helping the club reach the top division Russian Premier League.
Club CEO Gaurav Modwel expressed his happiness on the new signing as he said, “Diego’s game has this rare quality of controlled aggression. His ability to seamlessly shift from being an attacking midfielder to a striker with exceptional ball control skills makes him a potent weapon for our team. Along with Marcelinho, (Jonatan) Lucca he will add the typical Brazilian flair to our team.”
Delhi Dynamos sign Kalu Ulche
Meanwhile another ISL franchise Delhi Dynamos also completed their fourth signing of the season in the form of 34-year old forward Kalu Ulche.
Kalu who earlier played for FC Pune City in 2015, has also made appearances for La Liga clubs such as Espanyol and Levante. His most notable stint came with Almeria where he made 172 appearances for the club, netting 39 goals in five seasons. He again returned to the club later in his career but could not be as effective as he was earlier.
The forward is a Nigeria international and has played a total of 36 matches for the national team. He was also a part of the 2010 World Cup, where he scored two important goals for the team.
Talking of Kalu’s experience, director of the club Rohan Sharma said, “I am happy to welcome Kalu to the Delhi Dynamos squad this year. Kalu brings a lot of experience to the team having played for Nigerian national team, has had over 175 appearances for Almeria, as well as having played in the ISL in 2015.”
“Kalu will bring toughness in both mentally and physically to the team and I look forward to seeing him make a mark on the ISL this year,” he added.
The fourth edition of the league is set to begin on the month of November and will involve 10 franchises competing against each other for the next five months, to win the coveted ISL trophy.