Was Modou Sougou's one year extension in the best interest of Mumbai City FC?

The Senegalese forward scored 12 times in 18 appearances last season for the Islanders.

Jorge Costa’s arrival at Mumbai City FC meant that a new ideology and brand of football was imprinted in the club. The Portuguese tactician led the Islanders to a third-place finish in the 2018-19 season. Apart from Costa, the other name that was associated the most with guiding the side to the playoffs was Modou Sougou, Mumbai City FC's Senegalese forward who took the league by storm in the last term.

While it was a promising performance from their perspective but the Islanders are still to attain some more consistency and replicate or even better their outing from the last season is the dire need of the hour for the Islanders.

Introduction of a special player

Along with Costa, Senegalese international Modou Sougou was drafted in the squad as well. One of Costa’s major qualities, according to the club’s CEO Indranil Das Blah, was his ability to rope in quality players with whom he had developed working relationships in his vast experience as a football manager in Europe.

Sougou was out of contract after his stint in England with Sheffield Wednesday. At 33-years of age, he wasn’t any younger for a winger and hence potential suitors might have refrained away from luring a player who arguably doesn’t have many years of productive football left in him.

However, when presented an opportunity to lead the frontline for Mumbai City FC by former mentor-cum-coach Costa, Sougou didn’t back off from the challenge.

Praise the former FC Porto captain’s man-management skills or Sougou’s innate ability and talent, he adapted to a new role and league seamlessly.

Success whilst playing in an unfamiliar position

Actually, the mere fact that age wasn’t on his side somewhat helped him become the side’s leading goal-scorer in the previous season. The former Sheffield player started off his career as a winger with his major impressive traits being his pace, tenacity and an incredible work-ethic.

Costa identified these qualities well enough to understand the fact that he could reap richer benefits through it if his former confidant could be even more lethal if shifted to a rather central position.

It could be said that Sougou has an eye for a goal, and that is visible from his movements in and around the box. He is never rigid or static with his positioning, and always believes in keeping his marker guessing by drifting wide or sneaking in through the gaps to get at the end of low-crosses.

Another notable factor is the fact that Jorge was asked to work around a limited budget, something that he agreed upon and that pleased the CEO as well. Maybe, that was a reason behind him asking an out-of-contract winger to convert into a striker rather than going in for a natural player at that position and that of a younger age as well.

The move paid immense dividends as there were barely any major injury issues for Sougou and he thrived on being the focal point of all attacking moves for the club. He notched 12 goals from 18 appearances.

To understand it in a greater perspective, none of his teammates could score more than five goals throughout the course of the season. 

Is the move to extend his stay a correct one?

Now, as he signed another year of extension with the club, what does this signify for him personally and the squad as well?

Firstly, it is certain that Costa wants to build up from the positive momentum that they attained last season. Hence, he would be reluctant to change the core of the team and Sougou being an integral part of it was of course required to stay for a longer period of time.

Bringing the age factor into consideration, MCFC handed him a sole year’s contract; which, might mean that they would assess his performances and how it gauges with the team’s demands at the end of the upcoming season and not the jump the gun after good outings in a single season only.

Hence, it would be important for Modou to keep on doing all the right things that he did when the team hit a purple patch last time around. It would be crucial to monitor his fitness levels as well, though it hasn’t been much of an issue so far.

The team has been quite over-reliant on him from a goal-scoring perspective though.

They have looked to resurrect it by signing Diego Carlos from FC Pune City. Carlos hasn’t been excellent at finding the back of the net, but he certainly possesses the experience required to fill in Sougou’s boots whenever required.

That will help Jorge Costa manage his star recruit’s workload as well, keeping him afresh for the playoffs if they do end up qualifying.

Modou had failed to notch a goal in either of the two legs of Mumbai’s semifinal against FC Goa, and maybe fatigue at the end of a gruesome season could have been a reason for the same.

It would be interesting to see whether he manages to keep up with the team’s demands of him in the sixth edition of the ISL. However, consistency and stability are two innate qualities that define a club or a franchise’s success in such leagues.

Staying put with Modou Sogou and offering him an extension seems to be a move in the right direction for Mumbai City FC.