Nerijus Valskis. (TOI Photo)

CHENNAI: Chennaiyin FC 's resurgence in the Indian Super League (ISL) has been largely due to Nerijus Valskis' performance in front of goal.

Struggling to find the back of the net initially, Chennaiyin have now scored 26 times in their 15 games, including 15 in their last five, and it has revived their playoff hopes. They are now fifth on the table with 22 points.

Valskis had a hand in most of Chennaiyin's goals. The Lithuanian forward has scored 12 times and has five assists to his name and is the second-highest scorer in the league behind ATK's Roy Krishna . Interestingly, Valskis could easily have missed the ISL bus had FSDL, the organisers of ISL, not reversed its original decision of 'not-approved' status on the player.

FSDL has had this clause in league regulation where the club has to get an approval on the international player prior to his signing. For the ongoing season, the league regulation stated that a club can sign upto 7 international players, of which 5 needed a mandatory 'approval' by the league's competition committee. It's a complex situation for the club to negotiate with the player once the league puts a 'not-approved' stamp on the proposed name, jeopardising their planning as well as the budget.

It was learnt that FSDL had rejected Chennaiyin's initial request for Valskis' transfer citing that the forward's profile didn't 'match the league's standard'. Valskis, who has been a journeyman and played in Romanian, Polish, Latvian and Israeli clubs in his 15-year long career, made a name for himself while featuring in the UEFA Champions League for the Lithuanian side Kaunas early in his career. However, the league probably didn't see Valskis carry a reputation of playing in 'big clubs' and there were doubts whether he could be effective enough in ISL.

It has now emerged that Chennaiyin made a hard case for him again - exhibiting his credentials that he has won 24 caps for the Lithuanian national team and has also represented Israeli giants Hapoel Tel Aviv last season - that FSDL allowed the player in 'approved' category. And the 32-year-old went on to prove himself in the league.

Valskis isn't the first player who had to go through this initial rejection. FSDL had primarily rejected another Chennaiyin player John Stiven Mendoza 's case when the club had approached the league for his transfer back in 2014. The Colombian striker went on to give the club their first ISL title.

Those in the know of footballing administration feel that after six seasons, it is time that the league organisers should put more faith in the clubs. "Earlier, it was still acceptable that the league was handholding the clubs since they were new to the business. Now, choosing players or coaches should be the club's prerogative," said a football administrator requesting anonymity.

