Two positives and two negatives to Kiyan Nassiri's return to Mohun Bagan

Kiyan Nassiri returned to the Mariners after a forgettable stint with Chennaiyin FC.

Mohun Bagan have made their first signing of the 2025 summer transfer window with the return of Kiyan Nassiri from Chennaiyin FC. The 24-year-old had a relatively forgettable short stint at Chennaiyin FC but is now back to the club that gave him his senior breakthrough to help the Mariners’ push for more trophies in the 2025-26 season and beyond.

Nassiri is quite a beloved figure among the Mohun Bagan fans and had a decent outing for them in his first stint. He has proven himself as a pretty valuable squad player for the Mariners, producing some memorable performances for them in the past, including his hat-trick against East Bengal in the ISL in the 2021-22 season.

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Also Read: ISL champions Mohun Bagan set to sign Tekcham Abhishek Singh in ₹8 Crore+ deal

Kiyan’s return will amplify the depth of the Mohun Bagan squad, but there are positives and negatives to his inclusion into the squad. Here, we look at them.

Positives

Impact as a substitute

The rather admirable thing about Nassiri is that he can be a real team player who is happy to play as an impact substitute for the majority of the games. The 24-year-old couldn’t complete 90 minutes in a single 2024-25 Indian Super League game for Chennaiyin FC and only started six games for them.

He was an ever-present substitute for Mohun Bagan before that, but didn’t really grumble much or put in poor performances after coming on as a substitute. Nassiri’s sparky playing style makes him well suited to playing against tired defenders, allowing him to outplay opposition players and often creep up in the danger areas.

He loves playing as an impact substitute, being able to score clever goals in key moments and also providing quite a few chances with his clever final touch. Jose Molina could further enhance his possibility of making substitutes decide matches for him with a prolific substitute like Nassiri, who can help Mohun Bagan score more goals in the second half and towards the end of matches.

Yet to hit peak form

Kiyan Nassiri is the acclaimed son of legendary East Bengal footballer Jamshid Nassiri, who is considered as one of the best foreign players to have ever played in Indian football.

He definitely has a lot of footballing quality in his blood, and Kiyan is yet to tap into his ultimate power in his career so far. Fortunately for him, he’s still relatively young at the age of 24, which means he’s yet to tap into his peak form so far.

As a result, Mohun Bagan can now benefit from having an unpredictable threat like Kiyan on their side when he does hit his peak form in the foreseeable future.

Kiyan has already shown shades of being a very clinical goal scorer and troubling defenders with his tricky movement. If he can just get rid of some minor issues and glisten up his final touch, he can be a major goal outlet for the Mariners and help them play more explosive attacking football.

Negatives

Lack of consistency

Kiyan Nassiri might have that special spark in his arsenal, being able to score goals out of nothing, but he’s not really lethal enough to be considered a major game-changer.

The 24-year-old failed to score a single goal in the 2024-25 season for Chennaiyin FC, only managing one assist in 15 ISL games. He was tried in a variety of roles by Owen Coyle, which included in the wide areas and also as a no. 10.

However, despite getting into empty spaces, he just wasn’t clinical enough with his finishing. Even with the Mariners, Nassiri only scored nine goals in 70 games—which included a hat-trick against East Bengal in 2022.

Unless Nassiri can significantly improve his efficiency in the final third and start contributing to goals on a consistent basis, his inclusion will not really ‘upgrade’ the Mohun Bagan squad.

Weakens squad for AFC challenge

Kiyan Nassiri might have some decent experience playing in continental competitions for Mohun Bagan, as he made 11 appearances in the AFC Cup and AFC Cup qualifiers in the past. However, his impact in such games haven’t really been prominent enough at all.

He’s only managed to score one goal in 11 games and only gotten 168 minutes of game time in the AFC matches in the past. Kiyan’s shaky performances in the 2024-25 season fail to give much confidence that he’ll be a special weapon for Jose Molina’s side in their 2025-26 AFC Champions League Two campaign.

The Mariners can expect to face some fierce Asian teams in the competition. Nassiri has failed to excel against the big ISL teams in recent years, not even contributing much goal threat from the bench.

Hence, there is a low chance that he will excel against major opponents in the AFC competition. This means signing him as a potential replacement for someone like the departed Ashique Kuruniyan might actually end up weakening Mohun Bagan’s squad.

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