I only found out ab this now
But apparantly back when GSS went to Europe he was planning on playing the rest of his career out there
The reason Gurpreet got to Europe was bc of a man called John Buridge
John Burrige is a legendary English goalkeeper who after he retired became known for finding goalkeepers in countries not known for football and getting them into the premier league.
For example he got hired by the Oman FA to work on their coaching staff and when in Oman he found 16 year old Ali Al-Habsi playing in the Oman league**,** then he spoke to the FA ab him, pulled some strings, got the fa to buy Ali and himself tickets to go to Norway, and signed Ali to a club in the first division.
He didnt get many games in his first season then started to play really good, then John secured him a move to Bolton Wanderers, then after a few loans and hopping a few teams he became a well established English Premier League goalkeeper playing in the champions league and getting MOTM performances against Bayern Munich and a legend for Oman.
When John Burrige came on holiday to india he decided that he wanted to watch the Kolkata derby, he saw GSS who was very young at the time and said that he believed that he was going to be the next Ali Al Habsi.
He first tried to pull some strings and convinced Roberto Martinez the wigan athletic manager, who offered Gurpreet a trial at Wigan, Gurpreet wanted to go but East bengal wouldn't release him due to them needing him for the fed cup and I league. Then Martinez tried again when he moved to everton but East Bengal snubbed him again.
Later on John decided to pull some strings again and got Gurpreet a trial at Stabeak who were argubly the best team in norway.. He asked the AIFF for 2 tickets to norway and they said no, so he paid out of his own pocket and took GSS to Noway. He helped individually train GSS during his trial and GSS got his place in the team and we all know what happened, yk he played in the Europa league ECT, and was a very solid second choice.
NOW here is the part most people dont know ab, Stabaeks main keeper had been struggling with form in the last season so Stabeak wanted to renew Gurpreets contract and make him the first choice keeper.
But then the aiff called GSS and said and I quote 'Your position in the national team and your consideration for the national team will be under threat' if he didnt come back and sign for any super league club. So he rejected Stabeaks offer and came back.
John claims that if Gurpreet had more time in Denmark he would have turned Gurpreet into a Premier League player.
He wasn't the only one to say that.
In many interviews players such as Ashkan Dejagah (former premier league player) claimed after indias game vs iran in the past wc qualifiers that Gurpreet is Premier league quality. Abdelkarim Hassan stated multiple times in the press that its crazy that Gurpreet isn't playing in a higher league.
Its crazy to think what could have happened with a player like him.
