Mohammad Hakip becomes first U-17 star to sign for ISL

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Kochi, Dec 9: Indian youngster Mohammad Hakip has become the first ever U-17 player to have signed for an ISL side after he penned down a deal to sign for last year's runners-up Kerala Blasters.

The young defender from Manipur has joined the Kerala reserve squad for the time being and has been training with the squad for the last two weeks reportedly.

The U-17 player was a part of the provisional squad of recently concluded Under 17 Word Cup for India where he engaged in all the pre-match training, however, could not make it to the final team.

AIFF from this season has introduced a new team in the ongoing I League campaign, named Indian Arrows which consists of U17 and U-19 players. But sadly some of the promising players like Hakip, Thatal were not selected for the Arrows squad and eventually the defender opted to choose for the Indian Super League side.

Rakip said, "Training has been going well, after the non-selection I was worried, but everything is fine here. I hope to make a start soon."

Following his team mate's path, young U-17 star Komal Thatal is also believed to be edging towards penning down a new contract with an ISL side and reportedly he is in advanced talks with Sourav Ganguly co-owned ATK as well as FC Pune City.

Meanwhile, former England and Liverpool legend Emile Heskey has made a surprise revelation that he almost played for FC Pune City during the early days of the tournament but the deal never materialized.

“Yes, I nearly moved to the ISL. I was supposed to sign for FC Pune City. I was out of contract in 2014 when the ISL just launched. I don’t exactly remember but I joined Newcastle Jets or Bolton Wanderers. The deal did not materialize,” Heskey said.

Heskey is in India to promote and develop the country's football with an initiative of 'Legends Match 2018’.