Sportskeeda Indian Football Awards: Top 10 Indian forwards of 2016

#9 Jayesh Rane

Jayesh has spent all three ISLs under the tutelage of Marco Materazzi at Chennaiyin FC

The man from Mumbai is another one who flattered to deceive. He truly arrived on the Indian football stage with his performances for Chennaiyin FC in the 2015 ISL, which Marco Materazzi’s men went on to win.

He went on to play for Mumbai FC in the I-League, with the man he considers his mentor – Khalid Jamil. He played through the course of a disappointing season for Mumbai and scored one goal, but his talent was apparent for all to see.

He came back to Chennaiyin and Materazzi kept his faith in him. The Italian had said last year that Jayesh was capable enough of playing in most leagues in Europe with the kind of ability that he possessed.

And it was a bright start as he scored in Chennaiyin’s opening game against Atletico de Kolkata. He was bright in spurts throughout the season, but produced nowhere near the consistency that he showed last season.

Like Romeo, Jayesh has a huge 2017 ahead of him, but the plus side is that he has age on his side.