football

Updated: Sep 07, 2018 15:16 IST

Atletico Madrid are no strangers to the Indian Super League (ISL) after their previous partnership with ATK and it looks like the Spanish giants are back for a second stint in the tournament.

The ten-time La Liga champions are currently in talks with Jamshedpur FC regarding a possible tie-up and considering their involvement in acquiring former Australia skipper Tim Cahill as the ‘marquee player’ of the outfit, it seems that the deal is well on its way to completion.

Earlier in the year, former Atletico Madrid manager Cesar Ferrando’s appointment as coach of Jamshedpur FC sparked rumours of a possible working relation with the club and Cahill has now confirmed that his signing was mainly handled by officials from the reigning Europa League champions.

“The Atletico Madrid representatives told me about the vision for the future of Indian football and that is a big reason why I joined ISL,” Cahill told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview.

“I received a number of calls from the Atletico Madrid representatives and I mainly asked them questions about how they see me as a player, their expectations and the schedules,” he added.

Jamshedpur FC are currently in Madrid where they are holding their pre-season camp and two of their practice matches will be against Atletico Madrid B – the reserve team of Atletico Madrid which takes part in the Spanish second division league.

The team is also currently training at the Los Angeles de San Rafael facility in Spain – a venue which is famous for hosting the pre-season for the first team.

With the arrival of Cesar Ferrando at the helm of the club, Jamshedpur FC has also seen a huge influx of Spanish talent in their ranks.

Out of their seven foreign signings, five are from Spain and two of them have connections with Atletico Madrid. Sergio Cidoncha played for the Atletico Madrid reserve teams between 2009 and 2013 while 27-year old Tiri was part of ATK for the first three seasons of the Indian Super League and the defender made his La Liga debut in 2016 with Atletico Madrid.

When asked about the developments, a source close to Jamshedpur FC confirmed that the club is engaged in discussions with the Spanish club but nothing can be said for certain at this point.

“At this moment, there is nothing certain about the deal with Atletico Madrid. But, the discussions are currently underway and we are hoping for the best,” the source told Hindustan Times.