Florentin Pogba is ATK Mohun Bagan’s biggest asset this season.© Instagram
ATK Mohun Bagan head coach Juan Ferrando said on Saturday it was not easy to convince the high-profile Guinean central defender Florentin Pogba, the older brother of French World Cup winner Paul Pogba. Florentin is ATKMB’s biggest asset this season. They have been one of the active teams in the transfer market with a number of top quality signings ahead of the Indian Super League 2022-23 season. The Mariners head coach said the left-footed centre-back was on their wish list and he wasn’t convinced until he heard about the club’s vision.
“After the AFC Cup matches, we started looking for a left-footed central defender. Florentin’s qualities were ideal for our football style.
“We’ve been following him, watching his matches for his former team and asking about him in recent months,” the Spaniard told indiansuperleague.com.
Last ISL season, ATK Mohun Bagan suffered badly with injuries to their Spanish central defender Tiri and Indian defender Sandesh Jhingan, as they only managed to clean six sheets from 22 games.
“He is an aggressive defender who can dominate the field. In addition, he has the ability to build us up from behind and also take attacking positions if necessary,” said the coach.
“It was definitely not easy to get a player like him, who played active and played well in the French 2nd division. But once we told him about the vision, philosophy and mentality of our club and discussed our future goals, Florentin was more than convinced,” Ferrando added.
promoted
ATK Mohun Bagan has also roped in Indian stars like Ashique Kuruniyan and Asish Rai to make up for the departures of Roy Krishna and David Williams.
The Mariners will be the first to play the semifinals of the AFC Cup Interzonal at home in September. PTI TAP TAP AH AH
Topics mentioned in this article