Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) chairman ‘Padma Shri’ Brahmanand Shankhwalkar hailed Nathan Rodrigues’ Mumbai City FC opportunity as a “proud moment” for GFDC.
The 19-year-old Nathan hails from Arambol and had trained at the GFDC centre in the village. He is a product of the Reliance Foundation Young Champs, stated a press release.
Shankhwalkar said: “It is indeed a proud moment for GFDC. Nathan is a well-developed footballer, and I wish him all the best for his innings with Mumbai City FC. We hope to see his meteoric rise in Indian football. His hard work and sacrifice should continue with the same discipline when he is playing at the top tier of Indian football.”
“It is an honour for me to sign for Mumbai City FC. It’s a huge opportunity for me to arrive at a huge club and to start my professional journey. I want to put my head down, learn from my team-mates and continue my development under coach Des Buckingham and his staff,” said Nathan after his recent joining.
Nathan’s parents, Sylvester and Anunciasao Rodrigues (Ansu) are extremely happy.
“I am happy that he will now be playing in the ISL. At the age of 7, Nathan started playing for the school team. At GFDC Arambol he trained 4 years and later went on to join the GFDC Academy where he trained for another 3 years. Later he was picked up by the Reliance Foundation where he spent 4 years training. He had a dream and wanted to play for ISL and finally his dream was fulfilled. As his mother, I am happy and extremely proud of his achievement. I hope to see him play for India one day,” said his mother Ansu.
The GFDC coaches at the Arambol centre during Nathan’s training period were Dietmar Fernandes and Jason Fernandes and centre head was Jeronimo Fernandes. During his Residential Academy tenure the Technical Team comprised Derryl D’Souza, Robert Fernandes, Martin Fernandes, Harshad Zalmi, Pooja Gaonkar, and Franklyn Roncon.
