Mumbai: Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra is again available for the cash-rich Indian Super League (ISL). Yes of course, if there’s any taker.
Th striker turned out for Sachin Tendulkar co-owned Kerala Blasters in the first season of the league in 2014, but chose to play for Scottish outfit Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Premier League last season.
Having battled with his ankle injury since the time he came to India, the 32-year-old Brit was released by the Scottish outfit for his injury issues. He made 15 appearances for them out of 36 the club played.
“I’m confident I can recover and come back in much better shape because when I went to India for the first edition of the ISL. I injured the same ankle and the surgeon told me it hasn’t been the same since. But he has now cleared everything up in my ankle and says I will be able to move around a lot better on a football pitch which is a good thing. I am going to come back firing,” Chopra told an English channel Skysports.
According to an interview in in the channel, Chopra still misses India particularly for the fact that his father hailed from the sub-continent. “India is still a place that’s very close my heart…My dad’s family is from India and I loved it when I went out there. I would love to go back at some point and show them the real Michael Chopra,” Chopra told the English news channel.
Chopra, whose father is of Indian origin, represented England in all the age groups — U-16, U-17, U-19 and U-20 from 1997 to 2003 before playing for several top level clubs — Newcastle United, Cardiff City, Sunderland etc — in England.