ISL 2016: 5 players who will have the greatest impact on the final

#5 Aaron Hughes

Aaron Hughes has proved to be an astute marquee signing

The Northern Irishman has lived up to his tag of being the Kerala Blasters’ marquee player. In many ways, Hughes’s importance to this side has been evident more when he has not played than when he has played.

He has flown away on national duty two times during the course of the season so far, and Kerala struggled in his absence. When Hughes has played, they have kept 4 clean sheets in ten games, conceding seven goals in the process. In contrast, in the six games that he has missed, Kerala have kept only one clean sheet, with 11 goals being let in.

Hughes and Cedric Hengbart have formed a solid partnership at the heart of Kerala’s defence. Both men are not the quickest, nor are they the strongest , but they are astute readers of the game and use every bit of their experience to keep opponents at bay.

The rise of Sandesh Jhingan and Pratik Chowdhary this season has been a huge credit to Hughes and Hengbart. Both have ably marshalled the young Indians in the side and got the best out of them.

If they can do that for one more game in front of their adoring faithful in Kochi, there is no reason why Hughes will not be lifting Kerala’s first ever ISL title.