Young Indians find City life rewarding

Minutes earlier, Nawaz made a couple of crucial saves; first blocking a straightforward chance in front of the goal and then running out and leaping high to parry away a cross from the left. Days earlier, Vikram fired two goals in the first 25 minutes against ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB) to effectively kill the game as a contest and lead Mumbai’s response after a stinging defeat to Hyderabad FC.

The defending champions’ imposing run this season might be headlined by the foreign touch of Igor Angulo, Ygor Catatau and Ahmed Jahouh, but the young Indians in their set-up have provided a solid body to draft a dominant, top-of-the-table script thus far.

The 27-man Mumbai City FC squad for this ISL comprises 11 players aged between 18 and 22. Some fresh from the market, some more ripe from last season, when the City Football Group’s (CFG) vision of winning trophies and identifying and nurturing young Indian talent after acquiring majority stake in the club took shape.

Vikram’s second year at Mumbai City signifies that. A product of the Chandigarh Football Academy, he played for the Indian Arrows—All India Football Federation’s developmental team in the I-League—and shone for India in international age-group tournaments. In October last year, he was picked up by Mumbai City at 18.

“It was exciting,” said Vikram. “The biggest reason I joined Mumbai City is their tie up with the CFG. I thought this could be the best way to fulfill my ambition of playing somewhere outside India.”

In his first season under Sergio Lobera last year, Vikram played all of 98 minutes in 11 matches. This season, the 19-year-old has already played 223 minutes in six matches, also finding a spot in the starting XI that took on ATKMB.

“It makes a lot of difference when you’re starting a game. A lot of the times when you come in the dying minutes, you have to focus more on defence. When you play from the start, you can go forward and attack more. You can play like how you want to play, with more freedom. In the last minutes, you have to balance your personal goal with the team goal,” said Vikram.

Balancing result-oriented goals with developing domestic players has been the focus for Mumbai City FC. Vikram is among multiple players retained from last season who is 22 or below; Pranjal Bhumij, Valpuia, Asif Khan and Mohamad Rakip being the others. Then there are those who have turned 23 this year: Amey Ranawade, Mehtab Singh, Vignesh D and Phurba Lachenpa. Throw in the additions of Nawaz, Ralte, Gurkirat and Huidrom Naocha Singh, among others, and it’s a heady mixture of young Indians looking to blossom at the club.

Specific roadmap

The Mumbai team, tapping into the vast pool of CFG’s resources, prepares, provides and executes a specific growth roadmap for each of these players.

“We’ve got individual development plans for every player here,” said Buckingham. “What that does is bring clarity into them—their areas of development and strengths, which we want them to continue pushing but also the areas where we feel they need to get better… And then we work with them in developing that through training, game footage, gym programmes, etc.

“It’s a very monitored and tracked program, so that we can not only see where they are now but put things in place so that they can show progression at the end of the season.”

In many ways, Buckingham’s appointment before this season after the exit of Lobera is also in line with the youth development mantra of the club. The Englishman is himself a young coach at 36—strictly by age, he asserts, for this is his 19th season into coaching—but more pertinent is his work with age-specific teams. Before his stint as the assistant manager of the CFG-owned Melbourne City FC, Buckingham coached New Zealand’s U-20 and U-23 national teams, leading the former to the Round of 16 of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He has also worked with Stoke City’s U-23 side.

“Part of the reason of me coming here was my background experience of working with youth players. It was one of the big assignments to take that on here. We’ve been clear: I want the best Indian players, and the best young Indian players, at this football club. I want to develop and work with these players to help progress their careers and develop football in India,” said Buckingham.

“The development plans are key,” he said, “but it’s important that when they get the opportunities in the game, they go and show what they can do.”

Vikram has shown what he can do upfront; bought after a good season with NorthEast United, Ralte, who is also known as Apuia, has again shown quality in the midfield; Ranawade continues on an upward trajectory as side-back and Nawaz promise in filling the void left by Amrinder Singh’s departure.

Eager to learn

Buckingham reckons that the youngsters doing well in the country’s top league is due to a combination of trust placed on them by the club and their eagerness to learn.

“That is something that has struck me since I arrived here: how willing and open these players are to learn and develop,” he said. “And for me, it’s about helping them do that; provide a real positive environment in the training context and then support them when they go into the game. Because they are good enough, and are ready.”

Like Vikram believes he is. “I have been given two chances (in the starting line-up), and have scored two goals. If I get more such opportunities, I’m sure I will continue doing well,” he said.