An ardent East Bengal fan’s dreams of representing the club got a thrust from the just-finished Subroto Cup. SAI (Kolkata) midfielder Ranjan Mistry was far from the promise during their final win against Mizoran that earned him the most Promising Player of the Tournament, but he had convinced the selectors long ago.

The 17-year-old’s school boy looks belie the experience of having played professional football — for SAI in the Kolkata first division league — and he is hoping to take the bigger plunge soon.

“Like many players from the academy, I want to play for the big clubs, maybe East Bengal. This award will help me to join their junior team. I can’t think of Mohun Bagan, I’m an East Bengal fan. I will have to wait for another year for my course to get over,” Ranjan told Sportline.

At the moment, all pieces of advice coming from the experts stress on the immediate improvement of physique, and coach PK Bandopadhyay says further negligence may cost him his first big break.

“Over the last one-and-a-half years Ranjan has been the most important member of the team. His height has improved but there has been no development in his physique. It’s important for coaches to overemphasise this point at times because physical strength is increasingly becoming a basic difference between a good team and a bad team these days. And for Ranjan it has added importance because he’s a midfielder. We’ve noticed this point and will work on it over the next year or so,” Bandopadhyay said.

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