Mumbai City FC’s Davinder Singh ruled out for season, Joyner Lourenco to replace him!

Mumbai City FC defender Davinder Singh has suffered an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and will miss the remainder of the 2018/19 season. The 23-year old will undergo surgery on his knee later this month and will continue his rehabilitation with the club.

The young defender signed for The Islanders last season and was handed his debut in an away fixture against Kerala Blasters. He went on to make a total of eight league appearances in the 2017/18 season and showed incredible promise, following which he signed a two-year extension to his contract with the club.

The Islanders, meanwhile, have brought in 27-year old defender Joyner Lourenco who joins The Islanders until the end of the season. The Goan full back, who will wear the #14 shirt for the Islanders, will replace Davinder in Mumbai City FC’s squad for the 2018/19 season.

Joyner began his footballing career barely into his teens when he signed for his local club, Goa Velha SC and went on to play for the U-15, U-16 and the U-19 sides of Dempo SC.

Taking the next step in his career, Joyner switched sides and joined Sporting Clube de Goa as a 19 year old in 2010. Making an immediate impact, his side won the U-19 I-League in his first year at the club – a tournament in which he went out in the semifinals previously with Dempo SC.

Joyner went on to play for Sporting Goa for a total of seven seasons, and finished as a runner-up in the 2013-14 Federation Cup. His strong performances for Sporting Goa earned him a call up to the Indian U-23 National Team for the 2014 Asian Games in the final 20-man squad. He went on to make two appearances in the tournament wearing the Blue of India.

Following his stint with Sporting Goa, Joyner was picked by fellow ISL side Bengaluru FC in the 2017 ISL draft. He represented them four times in their AFC Cup campaign, finished as the runner-up of the ISL and won the Super Cup.