Three players who could be fighting for future in Mohun Bagan Super Giant in Super Cup 2025

Mohun Bagan Super Giant are in the hunt for a historic domestic treble.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant completed a perfect 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) campaign by winning the Final against Bengaluru FC. However, their win meant they became only the second team in the competition’s history to win both the league shield and the ISL trophy in the same campaign.

The Mariners’ season, however, is not over yet. They will be vying for a potential domestic treble after confirming their participation in the upcoming 2025 Kalinga Super Cup. Mohun Bagan Super Giant are likely to rest some of their key foreign players for this tournament, giving more emphasis on using their domestic talent and giving them the opportunity to prove their quality.

The competition gives the ideal platform for some of their relatively underused Indian players to stamp their places in the squad for the 2025-26 season.

Let us look at the three players who could be fighting for their future as key players at Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the upcoming Super Cup.

3. Dheeraj Singh

Singh was relatively unfortunate to be the No.2 for the ever-consistent Vishal Kaith during the 2024-25 ISL season. With Kaith racking up 15 clean sheets in the campaign (a league record for a single season), all Dheeraj could do was given his all in training.

While he did get some playing time in the final league phase match against FC Goa, it was a valuable clean sheet in a nothing game. The 24-year-old is bound to get more playing time in the Super Cup, where the Mariners’ management could opt to give their starters some much-needed rest.

It will be essential for Dheeraj to take his opportunities to impress the hierarchy. If he is to stand any chance of starting in the future for Mohun Bagan Super Giant, he needs to be extremely sharp in goal, make timely clutch saves and prove his quality to be able to fight for that no.1 spot with Kaith next season.

If he can rack up some clean sheets in the Super Cup, Dheeraj could potentially get more playing time during the 2025-26 season than he did this season.

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2. Ashique Kuruniyan

Kuruniyan had his share of troubles with injuries at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, but did well to recover in time to be a decent squad player. The 27-year-old produced some impressive displays, especially in the 2-0 win over NorthEast United FC and with his cameo against Bengaluru FC in the ISL Final.

However, Kuruniyan was unable to get a single goal contribution in 18 appearances. He only created 10 chances and completed nine dribbles. Ashique needs to prove his ability in the final third in the Super Cup campaign.

He’s not fully fit and lacks match sharpness, but needs to prove himself of having a lethal final product in his game. Ashique should get to feature in a more attacking role for Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the Super Cup.

He has to take advantage of that by not only running into key areas, but also creating bigger chances by being more decisive with his passing and finish off chances clinically. If able to do that and garner many goal contributions in the competition, Ashique could be considered a proper alternative option for Liston Colaco next season and not just an ever-present late substitute option.

1. Sahal Abdul Samad

The 28-year-old was mostly used as an impact substitute by Jose Molina during the 2024-25 campaign, getting only eight starts. He made 19 appearances in the competition, making a decent impact in the ISL final against Bengaluru FC and putting in some nice performances in the league phase.

However, Sahal only managed one assist in the entire campaign. This marked the first ISL campaign in which he failed to score a goal since the 2020-21 ISL season, where he grabbed three assists in 14 appearances.

Sahal was roped in by Mohun Bagan because of his ability to get goal contributions and bring that special spark in the final third. However, he must prove that he still has that incisiveness within him in the Super Cup. He has to take control of Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s attacks and create bigger chances by nailing the perfect final third passes.

Morever, Sahal also has to be smarter with his runs into the final third to get at the end of chances by making those late runs into the box to score goals. Unless he can prove himself as a viable goal option, Sahal will continue going down the pecking order at Mohun Bagan Super Giant and might never attain his regular starter role.

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