Bengaluru FC’s new recruit Curtis Main opened up on how the club ticked almost all the boxes that he was looking for while searching for a new challenge. The Englishman has joined the club on a one-year deal with an option to extend another year. But his main challenge will be to acclimatise with the new surroundings, a new country its football.
Main has spent most of his career in England and Scotland and he last featured for St. Mirren FC in the Scottish Premier League and Bengaluru FC will be his first club outside Europe.
“The opportunity to play in a different country has always been an ambition of mine and something I’ve been really keen to experience and learn from,” the veteran striker told in an interview with Deccan Herald.
He shared how Bengaluru FC stood out to him after he spoke to a lot of different clubs around the world. Main highlighted how the passion between the fans and the club is something that attracted him to join Bengaluru FC.
“After speaking to numerous clubs around the world and considering all factors, Bengaluru FC stood out. From the positive conversations I had with the manager and the club, and the passion of the fan base, the club as a whole felt like a great fit and somewhere I hope to achieve great things. The culture and the connection between the club and supporters is another part of wanting to join this great football club,” Main revealed.
The Blues will strongly depend on their attackers to score the goals and a lot of that responsibility will rely on Sunil Chhetri and Sivasakthi Narayanan, who did the job for the club last season as the team won the Durand Cup and also reached the finals of the ISL.
Although it was not the best season for Chhetri, he still contributed with five goals. Whereas Sivasakthi scored six goals along with three assists. Main shared his admiration for Chhetri for having such dedication to the sport. He is also eager to work with Sivasakthi and develop more young players within the club.
“I’ve heard a lot of great things about Sunil and I admire anyone that dedicates himself to his profession, playing top-level and international football even in the later stages of his career shows just how much desire he has to succeed and that is a mentality we both share,” said Main.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Sivasakthi and hopefully developing a lot of the young talent within the club,” he added.
The Englishman will have to shoulder big responsibilities of scoring the bulk of the goals. He will also have the extra pressure to adjust to the conditions and get used to it in the next few months before the start of the ISL. Lastly, Main is replacing Roy Krishna, who has joined Odisha FC, so he will have big shoes to fill for the upcoming season.
