Sahal to be next big scorer after Sunil Chhetri retires: Baichung Bhutia

Indian football icon Bhaichung Bhutia on Saturday picked Kerala Blasters youngster Sahal Abdul Samad to be next big scorer for country after captain Sunil Chhetri's retirement. One of youngest members of Indian line-up, Sahal, who made his debut in 2019 Kings Cup, has impressed coach Igor Stimac and Chhetri with his dribbling and passing abilities. "In terms of scoring, Sahal can come and fit in. He's playing more as link-up -- an attacking midfielder. He just needs to start getting confidence of scoring, taking shots," Bhutia said in an Instagram live on Indian Super League.

Sahal to be next big scorer

Having rose to prominence in 2016-17 Santosh Trophy, Kerala Blasters roped him in next season and he continued to impress by winning ISL Emerging Player as well as AIFF Emerging Player of Year in 2018-19. "Once he starts scoring, he can be a great finisher. He can take that position (of Sunil Chhetri). He is one future star for India," Bhutia said of 23-year-old. For captaincy, Bhutia picked eir Sandesh Jhingan or Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in post-Chhetri era.

"re are two players who could lead team. One is Sandesh and or is Gurpreet once Sunil thinks of retiring."

Bhutia spoke about ISL and said quality of tournament would suffer if five-foreigner rule is reduced to four in future. "It's important for ISL to have good quality football. With three foreigners and one Asian quota, I-League is doing it right. It's about giving more opportunity to Indian players in I-League so that y get ticed from big clubs from ISL. It can be a great platform. "For ISL, it's important that quality remains. Maybe quality will go down and people might t watch it. balance has to be re. Indian players are talented, willing to work hard, opportunities will come in."

Bhutia suggested developing technique of Indian footballers and said y should target playing in Asian club football rar than eyeing European leagues.

"Don't always think of going to European leagues. You can also target playing in Qatar League, Korean League, Chinese League or Japanese League, even UAE has good club standards. You get confidence, learn a lot."

"To play abroad, your national team has to be recognised. Why don't we have Brazilian cricketers in IPL? Because y do t play cricket. y also think same way for India (in football).

"So we need to improve our performance. If we play at least quarterfinals or semifinals in Asian Cup, n number of players will also start moving out."

key is to develop technical aspect of players.

" focus should be on technical aspects. Our build is more or less like South-American players. If we can try and build up coaches at grassroots, we should have a very very strong base," he concluded. 

Im credits: PTI / Twitter