Travelling around the world playing the beautiful game is a dream that every footballer cherishes. Alas, only a few get to live it. One among them is Erik Paartalu.

From starting his career with the now-defunct Northern Spirit in the National Soccer League (NSL) in Australia to turning up for teams across Asia and Scotland, the Aussie has enjoyed a journeyman’s career, an experience he treasures even today. “I’ve played in a lot of countries and I guess I have a lot of good and bad moments like every footballer,” he remarked in an exclusive chat with indiansuperleague.com.

“I think Asia has been difficult in general. The culture is completely different to where I grew up. But that never fazed me, I always went with an open mind and open heart; and really allowed myself to get immersed in the culture. I’d say the off-the-field stuff will long live in the memory rather than the footballing stuff. My wife and I have got a unique set of friends from all corners of the globe and I think that is really cool.”

It’s this attitude of taking on a new challenge with an ‘open mind and an open heart’ that has helped Paartalu enjoy a fruitful debut season at Bengaluru FC too. “My first Hero Indian Super League season was an exciting one. We had such a good team and played some great football at times throughout the season. It would have been nice to have had some silverware, but it wasn’t to be,” he stated explaining his first year with the club.

The former Brisbane Roar star joined the Blues serendipitously. Post his time at South Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC, Paartalu would head to Al Kharaityat in Qatar on loan for the remainder of the 2016-17 season. His football aside, it was here that the Aussie bumped into a few Bengaluru FC players, who were in Doha for their 2016 AFC Cup final. Though no talks of a move to India had come about, when Bengaluru finally approached him, the decision was much easier than he would have hoped. With his mate Cameron Watson already in the Bengaluru ranks, all it took was a chat with him and a Skype call with head coach Albert Roca for Paartalu to sign the dotted line. “I had spoken with Cameron prior to joining the club and I knew that it sounded like a club I wanted to be a part of,” he said speaking about his decision to join the South Indian outfit.

“Of course, at the time I had signed, it was only myself, Sunil (Chhetri) and Udanta (Singh) and we were lucky we had a good draft with some excellent Indian players coming on board. The coaching staff remained from the previous season and they were very ambitious and that’s something I wanted to be a part of. I think after being so chop-and-change in 2016, I really needed to pick my next club carefully. One that appreciated my style of play and one that appreciated my character and personality. After speaking with (head coach) Albert Roca via Skype, I knew it was something I wanted to sink my teeth into,” he averred.

In the space of 18 months, Paartalu had gone from being a free agent to dominating the Hero ISL. Typically sitting in front of the Bengaluru defence in a holding midfield role, the two-time Australian A-League champion clocked over 1,300 minutes in 18 appearances — providing stability to the midfield.

The ‘Big E’, as Paartalu is fondly called at his club, has been an influential player for his side going forward too. Three goals, two assists and a knack of slipping in juicy goal-scoring opportunities make him one of the vital cogs in Roca’s side.

For a complete overview of Erik Paartalu’s Hero ISL 2017-18 season, click here.