Chennaiyin FC's foreign contingent this time around has five new faces from last season. After reaching the final in the last Indian Super League (ISL) season, they have retained only two of their foreign stars in Rafael Crivellaro and Eli Sabia.
Two important players upfront in Andre Schembri and Nerijus Valskis have left the club and the Marina Machans have responded by bringing in Jakub Sylvestr and Esmaël Gonçalves.
Goncalves, known as just Isma, is a strongly built forward who can play as a striker or as a winger. He is good at hold-up play but also has a good turn of pace about him, not to mention a strong physique.