Though soccer has ever been taken as the European predominated outdoor game but its popularity has been immensely high in the entire world hence we have a national soccer team in almost every country we know about even though they do not stand anywhere on world standard. Asia is one such region which is not taken as a threat on any level for European sides, hence most of the Euro clubs do not want to hire players of this region citing the obvious reasons and this is possibly be the first time an Indian player is about to debut his soccer career playing for a European club. Yes, you read it right, 24-year-old Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is all set to play for Norwegian Tippeligaen club Stabaek in Thursday’s Europa League qualifier game against Welsh Premier League club Connnah’s Quay Nomads. This is definitely a good news for all the soccer fans and aspiring soccer players here in India as they can now dream of playing with some of the biggest soccer names if they could match their standard with other young players playing for European clubs and Sandhu could just be the first one in this lineup.
Talking about the golden opportunity Mohali based player has got, captain of the Indian football team, Sunil Chhetri, said in his recent interview, “It feels great to hear about Gurpreet, and I am really proud of all the progress that he’s made. He was quite depressed at one point of time, and I understand that because life can be very difficult when you go abroad to play football. My only advice to him then was to just stick around. He is somebody who works very hard, and has improved so much in the last two years. When he joined our team against Laos, he had just made his start for Stabaek, and one could see the confidence in his game.
“The first thing to consider is that when you play abroad, your life changes. Staying alone in itself is a tough thing, and on top of that, it is a cultural change. Moreover, since Indian football is not rated very highly in the world, nobody thinks much of you as a player. It is a mindset thing, but nobody is welcoming to begin with.”
He added about his personal experience playing abroad, “Staying alone in that environment, when you experience a jump in the quality of game you’re used to, is a massive thing. When I went to Kansas, it took me two months to adjust to my surroundings. I then got a chance to play some matches, including a pre-season friendly against Manchester United. I also had some commitments to the national team with the Asian Cup. My manager Peter Vermes simply told me that you’re not valuable enough to me that I will beg you to stay. He left the choice to me, and I had to leave for the national team.”