"Our plan is around defenders" - U Mumba coach Gholamreza Mazandarani gives sneak peek into auction plan [Exclusive]

Iranian head coach Gholamreza Mazandarani will be returning to U Mumba after nearly four years, having previously served as the head coach of the franchise in Season 6.

With the likes of KC Suthar and Jeeva Kumar in the coaching group, U Mumba has solidified their support staff ahead of the Pro Kabaddi 2023 player auction on the 8th and 9th of September in Mumbai.

Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Gholamreza divulged part of U Mumba's plans for the auction and revealed that the side will be solidifying their defensive front first before going for the raiders.

"Our plan is around defenders," said Gholamreza Mazandarani. "More focus for good defenders, then we try for raiders. But some players now their price is very high and the club's money is very less or normal. We try also like other teams but we should see what happens."

None of U Mumba's Season 9 players were in the Indian camp for the Asian Games. However, Gholamreza said that buying national players in the auction won't be his first priority. The Iranian hoped that the team could snap up some players but spoke about how they won't be exclusively targeting them.

"No I don't focus only for national players because we have here some very good players," said Gholamreza Mazandarani. "They can also play in national team but maybe coach is thinking this player better than that player. But if we find a chance, yes we are also trying for good players. But no focus only on national players."

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"We are waiting for auction" - Gholamreza Mazandarani hopes to build a powerful squad at Pro Kabaddi 2023 auction

Discussing the pre-auction retentions, Gholamreza Mazandarani spoke about how the teams have retained a majority of their players, including all their starters, while U Mumba has retained a few players after not having the best campaign in Season 9.

"This season you saw many teams retained more than 10-13 players. Some teams retained all they first seven. So they have a good chance this season because they saved a strong team. But our team last season result wasn't very good. So we retained only two-three players in defence and one-two players in the raiding side," said Gholamreza Mazandarani.

The Iranian coach also lauded the retentions and stated their strengths, praising Rinku and captain Surinder Singh, who will be expected to lead the side once again. He spoke about how U Mumba needs to buy left corner and left cover defenders, along with a few experienced raiders.

"They are good players - in the right corner Rinku is a very good player and Surinder is also a good captain and a good cover. But we need two-three defenders in the left side - left corner and left cover - and we need two-three good experienced raiders also. We are waiting for auction," said Gholamreza.

Having retained most of their core from last year, U Mumba will be eyeing a couple of big purchases at the Pro Kabaddi 2023 Auction coming up. It will be interesting to see the Mumbai-based franchise's strategy at the auction.