Shillong Lajong FC, a football club that has already made it’s mark in Indian Football by promoting youth, has recently bought 31 acres of land in Shillong, with the idea of building a world class residential academy in the city.
Often compared to be the, ‘Southampton of Indian Football’ for it’s investment in young prospects, the club has reportedly made about three crores rupees in the recently concluded ISL domestic draft.
While many players from all the I-League clubs participated in the ISL domestic draft, as many as seven from the current Shillong team were bought by the ISL clubs, which helped the northeast club gain a healthy sum of about ₹3 crore.
With few ISL clubs such as FC Goa and North East United FC spending less than or just about 3 crores on 14 domestic players in the draft, earning ₹3 crores from just player transfers comes as an achievement for a club that has always looked to bring out talent from the north-eastern region of the country and nurture them.
Pune City FC bought as many as three Shillong players that includes defender Chinglesana Singh Konsham, club captain Nim Dorjee Tamang and free-kick specialist Isaac Vanlalsawma. Pune also has retained Vishal Keith from last year, who is already a star in the making.
Atletico De Kolkata, who are the defending champions also invested heavily in young Lajong wingers Rupert Nongrum and Bipin Singh, while Kerala Blasters bought the full-backs duo of Samuel Shadap and Pritam Singh Soreisam.
In an interaction with Khel Now, club owner and the vice-president of AIFF Larsing Ming opened up on his thoughts on the ISL draft and said, “The signing of seven of our players by ISL teams on transfer fees coupled with good salary amounts is a sort of industry certification or acknowledgement of the Lajong Youth Development Programme. These players were transferred at a valuation of INR 37 lacs average value per player and a combined total valuation of ₹2.59 crores.”
Calling it as a big achievement for his young boys, he added, “The last Indian player signing above the age of 19 that we made was three years back in 2014. Lajong is the first and only club in the history of Indian club football to cross the ₹1 crore mark in transfer earnings. We clocked total transfer revenue of INR 1.47 crores through player transfer to ISL teams.”
It is worth noting that Shillong Lajong is only one of the three Indian football clubs other than Mohun Bagan and East Bengal that have been regularly taking part in the I-League since 2011. With a host of players gone to the ISL, Lajong has called upon another bunch of aspiring stars to make their mark in the I-League this season.