Tamhane: Bengaluru FC is at a disadvantage

Since these are early days in the transition, the fate that awaits players like Sunil Chhetri and Euguneson Lyngdoh is not known yet. While Chhetri represented Mumbai FC in the previous two ISL editions, Lyngdoh had turned out for Pune FC.

"We are confident that we can build a strong squad like we had done for the I-League," said Tamhane.

Mandar Tamhane, Bengaluru FC Chief Technical Officer, stated that the club will be at a disadvantage when it comes to selecting players for its Indian Super League (ISL) squad. 

Tamhane, however, is confident that the club will be able to build a top-class side in quick time, just like it did for the I-League.  "We are at a disadvantage. BFC took great pride in the fact that the same 75 per cent of the squad played in all of our I-League campaigns. This is what led to all the succes that we have had. But now, it looks like we will not able to retain a large percentage of our current squad," Tamhane told Sportstar , after it was announced that BFC had joined the ISL fold. 

Since these are early days in the transition, the fate that awaits players like Sunil Chhetri and Euguneson Lyngdoh is not known yet. While Chhetri represented Mumbai FC in the previous two ISL editions, Lyngdoh had turned out for Pune FC.

 "The squad selection rules are not clear yet, so we don't know how things will pan out yet. Hopefully, we will be able to retain a few of our players and also pick a few of our players if there is a draft process. Whatever be the case, we are confident that we can build a strong squad like we had done for the I-League," Tamhane said. 

BFC is due to take the field for an AFC Cup inter-zonal semifinal match on August 23. "I am sure that the rules will become clear much before that, because we need to have clarity on registering our players to make them available for the match. Also, once we are able to select our squad, we will need two-three weeks of preparation time too," he said.