Football fans in the north east region of India are all set to witness a former Portuguese, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Espanyol midfielder in their backyard as Simao Sabrosa inked a deal with John Abraham owned franchisee North East United for the second season of the Indian Super League (ISL).
Do you remember Simao Sabrosa who led Portugal for quite some time after legendary Luis Figo bided adieu to international football? John Abraham owned North East United had signed him for the next Indian Super League season. Simao, the world cupper, made his international debut in 1998 and played for Portugal till 2010 FIFA world cup.
The 35 year old has made 85 appearances for Portugal national team and has 22 goals to his credit.
Sabrosa has had an illustrious career. He has won several club crowns, such as Copa Del Rey and Europa League amongst others.
He started his career with Sporting Clube de Portugal before joining Catalonia giants Barcelona. Thereafter, he returned to his country and played for Benifica for six more years.
In the 2007 he moved back to Spain to play for Atletico Madrid till 2010.
Following a couple of seasons with Turkish giants, Besiktas, he was roped in by Espanyol, Barcelona’s arch rival in Catalonia.
However, since the end of 2014 season, he hasn’t played professionally. It is also reliably learnt that the Portuguese was on the lookout for an ISL club last season but a move eventually didn’t materialize.
Now the question is will he be able to turn around the fortune of NE in their favour in ISL?