I nearly joined FC Pune City during Indian Super League 2014: Emile Heskey

Mumbai: Former England and Liverpool legend Emile Heskey said 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,” he said.

The legendary striker was in city to make an announcement of the initiative ‘Legends Match 2018’ which will be launched to promote and develop football in India.

Comparing ISL to other leagues he said “I have played in Australia and I think its similar. It’s not like cricket where you buy players. It's exciting and content wise its great. ”

Ever since hosting the FIFA Under-17 tournament the game popularity has increased due to which AIFF fielded I-League Team Indian Arrows consisting of players from the Under-17 and Under-19 teams.

“Football now is getting bigger (in India). Like cricket, football is easy to stock where you need a ball and a pitch. So, once you get going with this, because of the U-17 tournament (FIFA World Cup), it is got bigger and bigger and bigger. Then you see, younger players want to emulate the 17s, want to emulate the national (football) team, so it will get grow up,” Heskey explained at an event here.

England’s Under-17 and Under-20 teams has had golden run, The Under-20’s won the World Cup in May and Under 17’s followed that with European Championship win.

Speaking about young prospects Heskey said “Among U20s Dominic Solanke has by far been the most active player of a Premier League side. The 20-year-old has made one start this season at Liverpool, along with eight substitute apperances. But that came only after he switched from Chelsea. “He’s been one of the hottest prospects for the last three years, but he’s getting more of a chance now at Liverpool because of the rotation and there aren’t many players ahead of him,”.

Jadon Sancho, who has won two caps for Borussia Dortmund after making an GBP 8 million switch from Manchester City. “He was never going to play there (City), but he’s gone to Dortmund and he’s playing,” Heskey added. “That’s just where we are and the kids have to understand that.”