Existing overseas players rule has affected the national team, opines Trevor Morgan

While national coach Igor Stimac has already urged the AIFF to truncate the foreigner quota in the Indian football leagues (ISL and I-League), the apex body is yet to take a decision on the same. Former East Bengal coach Trevor James Morgan has spoken in favour of the same, saying that the foreigners occupy vital positions in the playing XI, which is not healthy for the growth of home-grown talents, who spend most of their time on the bench.

“I think they (AIFF) can do that (reduce the number of foreigners). If you look at all the teams you will see that the spine of those teams - the strikers, two midfielders and centre-backs - have a lot of foreigners and they are the important positions. After that, you just fill into the wide areas,” said Tevor Morgan, while speaking to Goal.com.

The effect has translated into the Indian national team with them struggling to score goals even though they have improved defensively. Morgan feels that it will be difficult to find the next striker if the foreigners continue to clog in that position.

“So that is holding back Indian players in those positions. It’s very difficult to see a local striker scoring 15 or 20 goals a season. Obviously Sunil Chhetri is an exception, he has done brilliantly. But I can’t think of too many Indian players who have double figures in goals. If players in these positions are not coming up then it affects the national team,” opined Morgan.