Mumbai City FC have been an underwhelming force throughout their history of the past six years. Since the inception of the league in 2014, MCFC have made it just once to the Playoffs stage, often finishing mid-table.
But with new ownership, fresh tactical ideas and stronger players, can Mumbai create an impact this season? We take a brief look at how they stack up ahead of the new season –
TRANSFERS
Acquired by the CFG group earlier this year, Mumbai City identified a few key players in their scouting system. They have thus signed the likes of Fall, Boumous, Jahouh, Farukh Choudhary and Mandar Rao Desai.
They released Diego, Kevyn and Sogou as part of their rebuilding process. A number of Indian players which included Mohammed Rafique were let go to various I-League and ISL clubs.
SQUAD LIST
GOALKEEPERS
- Amrinder Singh
- Vikram Singh
- Nishit Shetty
- Phurba Lachenpa
DEFENDERS
- Mourtada Fall
- Mandar Rao Desai
- Mehtab Singh
- Amey Ranawade
- Valpuia
- Sarthak Golui
- Tondonba Singh
- Mohamad Rakip
MIDFIELDERS
- Ahmed Jahouh
- Bipin Singh
- Cy Goddard
- Asif Khan
- Farukh Choudhary
- Bidyananda Singh
- Hernan Santana
- Hugo Boumous
- Pranjal Bhumij
- Raynier Fernandes
- Rowllin Borges
- Sourav Das
- Vikram Singh
- Vignesh Dakshinamurthy
FORWARDS
- Adam Le Fondre
- Bartholomew Ogbeche
STRENGTH
Their biggest positive ahead of this season is the ability to be able to bring a manager like Sergio Lobera in their ranks. With a good win percentage, he also convinced the core players from FC Goa to join him at Mumbai. They are also a decent goalscoring side with 25 goals in 18 games last season and are only set to improve this season under Lobera’s attacking style of play.
WEAKNESS
Much like East Bengal, their influx of the number of transfers could lead to team chemistry being affected on the pitch. The uncertainty of not having a core that knows each other means Mumbai’s management has its task cut out to get all of them firing at the same time.
KEY PLAYER
Talismanic forward Bartholomew Ogbeche is undoubtedly a sheer force on his day. With the ability to wreck opposition defences, the Nigerian has a history of winning games on his own. He has scored 27 goals and 2 assists in 33 ISL appearances for both NorthEast United and Kerala Blasters.
PREDICTED TABLE FINISH
4th Place – Mumbai have just about enough firepower to make it to the playoffs, but how they go on from there is anybody’s guess at the moment.
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