Viva Kerala Coach Sreedharan AM spoke to Goal.com about his transfer targets for next season and said that he wants to bring in a few experienced Kerala born players.
Viva Kerala will make a return to next season’s I-League so coach Sreedharan AM knows that he has to make a few additions to his squad but he revealed to Goal.com that he will only start planning once the board decides the budget in a meeting on Sunday.
“There is a board meeting on Sunday where they will decide the budget and then accordingly I will decide which players I can bring in.”
He added, “I am sure the board have learnt a lesson from the 07-08 season when Viva got relegated because of the lack of quality in the squad due to limited investment so I am sure they will provide a budget that will help us form a team that can do well in the I-League.”
The coach however has a rough plan of acquiring the services players like Ajayan and Pradeep.
“In the I-League you need experience so I want to get a few experienced Kerala born players like Ajayan and Pradeep so I hope I will get enough money to bring them.”
Sreedharan also said that he would not be retaining all the players that played in the second division and also wants to bring in a fresh set of foreigners.
“I will keep most of the players who played in the first team of the second division campaign.But we need more quality in the I-League so I have to replace many of the other players.
“The foreigners that played in the second division are good but they might struggle in the I-League so I want to make changes in that department also.”
Amoy Ghoshal
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 1 May 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.