CHANDIGARH: IPL of football, Indian Super League, proved to be a windfall for former Chandigarh Football Academy (CFA) trainee and Kerala Blasters FC defender Sandesh Jhingan.

The 21-year-old from 'City Beautiful' has been retained by the club for the upcoming ISL season with a Rs 1.55-crore deal, making him the highest paid Indian footballer in the ISL so far.

But when the likes of Sunil Chettri, Robin Singh and Gourmangi Singh among others make it to the ISL draft, then the price tags for these footballers will certainly be much higher than Jhingan's and the title for being the highest paid footballer is bound to change.

Standing at 6 foot 2 inches, Jhingan grabbed his opportunity during the inaugural ISL with both hands and stood tall while defending against the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Nicolas Anelka, David Trezeguet and Roberto Pires.

"I was playing in the I-League for two years and played for India too (U-19). But nobody really knew the players. The ISL has removed that barrier. Football in India was missing a face, and the ISL made up for it. Many people who came to watch the game said that I played brilliantly. But honestly, I had an okay tournament. If people don't come to watch the I-League, they won't know," Jhingan, who plays for Sporting Clube de Goa in the I-League, said.

So what's next for the lad from Chandigarh? "I received a lot of offers to come for trials for many European teams. I want to play abroad as soon as possible. I want to play with the best so I can come back and help India become a better footballing nation. Other than my European dreams, my order of importance is the national team, then playing in the ISL, then the I-League. That being said, I cannot survive without either of them."

Highest Paid Indian Footballers

Sandesh Jhingan (Kerala Blasters FC) Rs 1.55 crore

Sunil Chettri (Bengaluru FC) * Rs 1.20 crore

Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal) * Rs 1.00 crore

Syed Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan) * Rs 1.00 crore

Subrata Paul (Mumbai City FC) Rs 80 lakhs

*These players are part of I-League clubs

