Alessandro Del Piero: The marquee bench-warmer of ISL

NEW DELHI: Two months back, when Delhi Dynamos signed Italian legend Alessandro Del Piero as their marquee player for a mammoth sum of Rs 10.8 crore, it was expected that he would be the driving force behind the team.
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However, things haven't gone according to plan and Del Piero, who now seems a mere shadow of his formidable self, even struggles to make it to the playing XI.
Having played eight games for the Dynamos so far, Del Piero has struggled to find the back of the net even once.And things seem to be going downhill for the former Juventus striker who has now warmed the bench for three games in a row.
On Monday, at the press conference ahead of the game against Atletico de Kolkata, Delhi coach Harm van Veldhoven had said that Del Piero had recovered from the 'stomach cramp' which forced him to miss the previous two games and would certainly be a part of the squad against ATK.
However, the Italian could only be seen warming the bench on Tuesday evening. When Del Piero was asked why he was on the bench, the 40-year-old replied bluntly, "You have to ask the coach."
Even as the Dynamos' players took the field for pre-match training, Del Piero seemed very casual and disinterested and could be seen jogging at a leisurely pace.
Asked to comment, Veldhoven said, "I did not see that so I cannot answer that. My focus was on the players who would be playing." It meant that Del Piero was not in his scheme of things at all. Besides, there are murmurs about a possible rift between Del Piero and Veldhoven with the former being unhappy with the manager's coaching methods. However, a source close to the team said they were just rumours.
"The coach decides his playing XI. There are still some matches left so you might see him in action," said the source. Del Piero, who has always evaded questions about his future with the ISL, maintains he will only speak on this once the season ends. "I think I want to wait until the end and understand what it means to play here," he had said earlier.
With just two away games left for Delhi, it will be interesting to see if Del Piero finds a place in the playing XI again.
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