Yan Dhanda whose Swansea City career has slowly petered out over the last year has revealed his desire to represent India at international level. The twenty three year old is a free agent very shortly and has been allowed to talk to other clubs since January with no limitations on who or where.

Dhanda started his career at the swans so well after signing from Liverpool. Coming on as a substitute against Sheffield United and scoring the winner with his first touch in a 2-1 win in 2018. Of late, and at certain times during his Swansea stay he has suffered with performance issues but has also showed glimpses of his real potential, sadly for Dhanda he is no longer required at Swansea City.

With his swans career coming to an end he has said "I want to represent India and believe I can really help the national team. I have been following Indian football and seeing the recent results which include losses against Bahrain and Belarus. They should be winning such games. I being there can improve results and benefit the players as well. Playing with better players always makes people better."

There is no doubt Yan could bring something to the India national side."When I was young, I had opportunities to play for England and I took them. I wanted to experience playing for England and represent my country at a young age. Obviously now I have been playing with Swansea and following Indian football closely," he added. "India is in my blood. I believe I can go over there and help improve the results. This can be positive for everyone. For me, I’ve made the decision. I’d love to play for India and things can change. These fans deserve the national team competing against quality teams and moving higher. If players like me can come and play for India, it will help everyone."

Following up on Dhanda's wishes, Baljit Rihal, football agent and CEO of Inventive Sports in the UK and founder of the Asian Football Awards added, "Having Yan and players like him would give India a boost. In terms of OCIs, I think there are doubts that if India has such players, then home-grown talent won’t be developed. There should be a cap on OCIs. If they allow only three high-quality players, it can make a big impact. The government should think about this."

As Yan Dhanda departs Swansea we wish him well, for him it’s a shame it just didn’t work out.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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