Talk about the spectacular goal he scored in the 1-0 win over Syria in the Nehru Cup final last August and Naduparambil Pappachen Pradeep smiles. Unfortunately, for the midfielder who threatened to grab superstar status during that run, life has been quite rough since.

In fact, after spending the last 10 months struggling with both form and fitness, Pradeep could be back in the spotlight under rather controversial circumstances. The midfielder, who donned Mahindra United colours last season, says he has signed on with Kolkata giants East Bengal. But Mahindra are not too pleased as they say Pradeep is contracted with them until 2010 and as far as they are concerned, he remains a Mahindra player. Team manager Derrick Perreira told The Indian Express that they would be filing a complaint with the AIFF over the transfer.

But Pradeep says he doesn’t know what the fuss is about. “I had signed a two-year contract with Mahindra in 2007 and they had said that if I got better money from any other place, money that they wouldn’t be able to match, then I could move out.

“I don’t know why they are creating problems now. I am sure things will settle down and I will play for East Bengal this season,” Pradeep said.

After all, things have never come easy for the 25-year-old, and yet things have always settled down just when the situation looked hopeless.

Good times and bad

He came up with a wonderful show in the Nehru Cup last year — it helped him bag the Indian Footballer of the Year award as well — but even at that time, he was struggling to overcome a personal loss.

... contd.