FCPC's Gurtej is living the dream

There are two things that he had not achieved as the season started: scoring a goal and a cap for the country. He scored his first goal after playing for a decade and a half, but the other thing still remains.

After his performances at the heart of the FC Pune City defence, Gurtej Singh can expect a call from Stephen Constantine for the national side.

Gurtej has featured in all the matches for FC Pune City. Something he thought would never happen even after he was picked at the player draft for Rs 12 lakh. “Socha toh nahi thha pick ho jaayenge," is how he describes it.

When you speak to him, you cannot tell that he is a ferocious centre-back on the field. Gurtej answers everything with humour, be it his career or his personal life.

The Punjabi lad just gave his name in player draft after he saw his counterparts doing the same, waiting for his fortune to shine after his stint in the second division of the I-league. Gurtej led the Fateh Hyderabad FC side for a season before coming here.

He got his professional debut relatively late at the age of 22 with Indian Arrows after one of the main players was injured and Gurtej was the replacement. Then he became a regular in the team and started to carve out a career.

His debut was witnessed by the whole neighborhood back in Punjab. He recalls that the scenario at his home was like a scene from a movie where the whole locality gathers around to watch a match on the television. “My father was really happy to see me play as he himself could not become a professional player. I am living his dream right now. The season so far has been fantastic for me and the team and I hope we go on and win it,” he says.

A massive number of players moved from the I-league to Indian Super League this season. Gurtej compares the two leagues in terms of training as he feels that the levels have a drastic difference. “There they just make you play a game in the morning and you make a few runs and your training is done. After I came here, I saw different drills that are helping me improve physically and technically at the same time,” says the sturdy
defender.

“I have started all the matches here with Rafa. You learn a lot playing alongside a player with such great experience from foreign leagues.”

The cultural shift from the North is much different from Pune. He struggled a little bit with the language and realised that he cannot dwell into it. Surprisingly, the dressing room has turned into place where Punjabi is the common language because of his presence. “Rafa (Rafael Lopez) bhi bolne lagta hai kabhi kabhi,” he jokes again.

While he has had a tremendous season with five clean sheets in 14 games, the centre-back will hope to make his father prouder wearing the blue colours of the country.