New season,new look

The club has roped in four new players and recalled a former player,apart from promoting two players from the Peninsula-Pune FC Academy. The club has also released 10 players who had served out their contracts at the end of last season.

The biggest new signing is striker James Moga,skipper of newly independent South Sudan.

Apart from him,the new recruits include left back Nallappan Mohanraj from Mohun Bagan and Sukhwinder Singh from Chirag Kerala,both of whom have played for the national team in the past. Youngsters Mumtaz Akthar from Punjab and Goan lad Vellington Rocha,formerly of the PFC academy,are the other two drafted in to power the midfield.

Abhra Mondal,who was on loan last season from East Bengal,has been signed on a permanent deal. Mondal will share responsibility with Shahinlal Meloly and PPFCA’s Amrinder Singh.

Graduating into the senior ranks are defender Kamardeep Singh and midfielder Sujie Kumar,who formed part of the Under-19 I-League title winning squad of 2011-12.

The inclusion of both players takes the total count of academy graduates to three,after Dhanpal Ganeshan’s induction last season.

“As promised earlier,players showing promise will and always graduate,” said Chirag Tanna,PFC’s head,operations.

“Both Kamardeep and Sujie earned their places and have a lot of hard work to put in.”

The squad will officially begin pre-season training from July 16 at the Shiv Chhatrapathi Sports Complex,Balewadi.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Abhra Mondal,Shahinlal Meloly,Amrinder Singh; Defenders: Othallo Tabia,Srikanth Ramu,Anas Edathodika,Caitano Costa,John Benedick,Chika Wali,Kamardeep Singh,Gurjinder Kumar,Nallappan Mohanraj;

Midfielders: Karma Tsewang,Venkatesh Shanmugam,Sujie Kumar,Douhou Pierre,Ganeshan,Mumtaz Akthar,Sukhwinder Singh,Asim Hassan,Maninder Singh,Vellington Rocha;

Strikers: James Moga,Jeje Lalpekhlua,Subash Singh,Jeh Williamson.

Released: Subrata Paul,NS Manju,Rollingson Hyungyo,Kamaljeet Kumar,Baldeep Singh,Lester Fernandez,Jayashelan Prasad,Paresh Shivalkar,Nirmal Kumar,Mandjou Keita.