Mumbai City Showing Intent With Bartholomew Ogbeche move

Nigerian and former Paris Saint-Germain striker Bartholomew Ogbeche could be on his way to join City Football Group, owned Mumbai City FC.

The India Super League side had the majority of its stake taken over by City Football Group, who are also the owners of Manchester City, Girona, and Melbourne City in November 2019.

Instantly, after missing out on the India Super League playoffs, Sergio Lobera was appointed to take charge of the team.

The former Goa FC coach is looking to bring Kerala Blasters’ all-time top scorer and former PSG striker Bartholomew Ogbeche to the clubside.

Mumbai City FC hasn’t made the playoffs in the last few seasons, and with the signing of Ahmed Jahouh, Mourtada Fall and Mandar Rao Dessai, the addition of Ogbeche will add to the firepower of the Spanish coach.

Ogbeche, who is 35-years-old, has been India since 2018 first with North East United and then Kerala Blasters, scoring over 30 goals for both sides.

Mumbai City finished fifth last season with 26 points from 18 games played with 29 goals conceded and 25 goals scored.

Meanwhile, according to certain reports, India Super League clubs could have their pre-season matches at a single location. This is due to the uncertain situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has crippled sports in India.

All footballing events have been affected by the Covid-19 to the extent that FIFA competitions, including the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, was shifted till February 2021.

Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) told teams to consider having such a strategy of having the season in the same location where the India Super League will be hosted.

Already various venues have been shortlisted as the potential venue for the start of the new India Super League season with Goa and Kerala among the touted locations.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu