Rave reviews
Bengaluru FC's Suresh Singh Wangjam is yet another youngster who earned rave reviews for his performances. He was blooded in by Carles Cuadrat midway through the season and the 19-year-old has since become a regular fixture.
"He (Suresh) has been helping us a lot. He's doing a wonderful job. He was creating chances in attack and helping in defence. He's having an impressive season. I'm sure that he'll soon have an opportunity in the national team as well," said Cuadrat, lavish in his praise for the youngster.
Manvir catches eye
FC Goa's Manvir Singh, Jeakson Singh, Mohammad Rakip (Kerala Blasters) Redeem Tlang (NorthEast United FC), Shubham Sarangi (Odisha FC) are few other examples of youngsters catching the eye.
However, it is not just on-field partnerships that have sparkled. Several key off-field agreements have illustrated the league as well. The City Football Group, who own Manchester City, bought a majority stake in Mumbai City FC, a landmark deal in the progress it would bring to Indian football.
Fiji-Aussie combo
The foreign imports, too, have been of high quality with several of them striking up partnerships that have illuminated the ISL.
Roy Krishna and David Williams have been absolutely brilliant for one of the finalists, ATK. The Fiji-Aussie combo has fired when ATK needed them, most recently in the play-offs against Bengaluru FC where Krishna scored one and Williams struck two. Krishna has contributed 15 goals and five assists while Williams has seven goals and four assists to his name.
Hugo revels
Who can forget Hugo Boumous (11 goals, 10 assists) and Ferran Corominas (14 goals, 4 assists)? Their telepathic understanding helped FC Goa top the league stages. The partnership between Bartholomew Ogbeche (15 goals) and Raphael Messi Bouli (8 goals) also produced dividends for Kerala Blasters, although they could not make it to the play-offs.
All in all, it has been an exciting and eventful season. All it requires is a fitting finale in Goa on Saturday.