Sushil Kumar Singh: evergreen striker.Polite and soft-spoken off the pitch, Sushil Kumar Singh looks far from the lethal striker that he transforms into once he dons his football boots. The Manipuri forward, who has signed up with Mumbai City FC, has had successful stints with Mahindra United, East Bengal and United Sikkim and also with the national team. In this exclusive interview conducted at the team hotel with indiansuperleague.com, he opens up on a host of subjects about his game, teammates and team co-owner Ranbir Kapoor. Here are some excerpts:What does being a part of Mumbai City FC feel like?It feels wonderful. I am ever so grateful to the club, the owners and decision-makers for giving me an opportunity to represent this wonderful city in the Hero Indian Super League. Mumbai is a superpower amongst all the cities in India. I want to help the club make the city a footballing superpower.What are your thoughts on Mumbai City FC’s co-owner, Bollywood superstar Ranbir Kapoor?What can I say? I have watched all his films in cinema halls and on television. To finally meet him in person is wonderful. He is a very warm and humble person. We had a chance to interact with him during the club’s launch. He was very encouraging and made us all feel welcome."I want to help the club make the city a footballing superpower"Sushil Kumar SinghHow will the ISL help you to showcase your potential and what effect do you envision the league having on Indian football?The I-League has been slowly improving over the last four to five years, but something like the ISL was needed to provide the much-needed thrust to Indian football. I am hopeful that I shall be able to use this unique opportunity and learn as much as I can from the international players and the coaches. I aim to better my own game and seize this opportunity with both hands. I feel that the ISL is a blessing for young footballers because the grassroots programmes, if implemented properly, will be an ideal spring-board for their development.Who are your best friends in the team? I have quite a few! Subrata Paul, Syed Rahim Nabi, Deepak da (Deepak Mandal) and Abhishek da (Abhishek Yadav) have all played with me for club and country. My relationship with them is a big plus as we are all enjoying this new venture together. We know that we are all there for each other through thick or thin. Even Manuel Friedrich is a wonderful person. He has no starry attitude or ego issues. I have really enjoyed training and interacting with him so far.There is less than a month to go for the ISL’s first game. How are you gearing up for it?We are trying to achieve optimum physical conditioning. All our team members have not linked up with the squad yet. There are some players in the team carrying injuries and niggles. The physiotherapists and support staff are trying their best to get everyone fit. Even I have still some way to go in terms of achieving full fitness as I have a muscle strain.If you were to convince your fans in the North-East to support Mumbai City FC, what would your message to them be?The people in the North-East are very passionate about football. They are also very knowledgeable about the sport. They are free to support whoever they want, but I know that they will support us if we play good, clean football.
