West Bromwich Albion's Nicolas Anelka is seen in front of their sponsor's advertising board during their English Premier League soccer match against Everton at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich, central England January 20, 2014.
West Bromwich Albion's Nicolas Anelka is seen in front of their sponsor's advertising board during their English Premier League soccer match against Everton at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich, central England January 20, 2014. Darren Staples

The first edition of the Indian Super League is almost over. The newly launched league grabbed a lot of eyeballs around the world when a bunch of household names, though past their prime, agreed to take part in it.

Ex-Arsenal players were in large demand and five of them Robert Pires, Fredrik Ljungberg, Nicolas Anelka, Mikael Silvestre and Andre Santos were bought by various teams to play for them. The organisers are also believed to be in talks with Thierry Henry to play in one of the franchisees next season. Other World Cup winners who played in the league were Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet and Joan Capdevila.

The most influential among them has been the ex-Manchester City player Elano Blumer, the Brazilian is the league's current top scorer. Andre Santos has been deployed by his manager, the Brazilian legend Zico, in the center of the midfield for his team and he has emerged as a very successful creative player. The ex-Liverpool Champions League winning star Luis Garcia has also been a good fit for his team.

Unfortunately the flops outnumbered the hits. Nicolas Anelka, someone who has participated in the Barclays Premier League even in this calendar year with West Bromwich Albion FC could only manage two goals and ended the league at the second last position. David Trezeguet also managed to score only two goals while Alessandro Del Piero who played two successful seasons with Sydney FC managed only one goal. Arsenal FC legends Robert Pires and Fredrik Ljungberg were not first team regulars by the end of the season and David James, being the player manager of a franchise, did not keep himself on the reserve bench.

Arsene Wenger has expressed his happiness in the recent past that retired players from European club football still continue to play in lesser footballing countries like United States of America, Australia and now India. He thinks that this will not only help these countries learn from these top professionals but also bring newer fans to the game.

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