Kolkata: Dimitar Berbatov, the marquee signing of the Kerala Blasters is expected to join his new club team-mates in Spain on October 1 for training before the Indian Super League kicks off in November 17. Last year finalists Kerala and Atletico de Kolkata will square off against each other in the opening match of the popular football tournament.
Kerala Blasters left for Spain on Thursday to begin with their pre-season training after the completion of the camping in Hyderabad. However, foreign recruits including Berbatov and Wes Brom along with coach Rene Meulensteen will join the team on October 1.
“The team will leave for Spain on the 28th and will start training from the 1st October. All foreigners will also be there from the beginning,” stated club CEO Varun Tripuraneni, in a chat with goal.com.
Former Manchester United striker Berbatov however has not been on a vacation and was seen training with CSKA Sofia. He even played a match for Hristov Stoichkov’s Bulgaria legends team against the Barcelona dream team and also scored a wonderful hat-trick.
Earlier, he had become the record signing of the Sachin Tendulkar co-owned franchise opting for the ISL over other English premier League clubs. His presence in the camp from the very first day of the training will definitely be a great experience for Indian strikers like C.K.Vineeth and Jakichand Singh.
He is expected to play the role of a central striker beside Iain Hume and C.K.Vineeth, but he also stated that with age not by his side, he would prefer playing as a midfielder rather than a striker.
With the fourth season of the ISL just one and a half month away all the teams have begun their preparatory training camps, to get back to match fitness before the tournament kicks off.
Meanwhile, Kerala Blasters will be based in Marbella, Spain. Apart from training they are also expected to play few matches against some of the teams from the Segunda division-second division of football in Spain.