On June 25th Mohun Bagan announced their star signing of 23 year old Indian midfield sensation Lalengmawia Ralte, commonly known as Apuia. Apuia started his love affair with Football from the age of 6. His first big break arrived when he was selected to play in his school team for the U14 Subroto Cup, an international inter-school football tournament that is held annually in New Delhi, India. He spent a couple of years at the Regional Sports Training Centre football academy in Kolasib, Mizoram and trained under HC Zarzoliana. In January 2016, he went to the trials for the 2017 Under-17 World Cup squad that took place in Mizoram and thus joined the AIFF Elite Academy, in Goa.Although he was in the squad for FIFA U17 World Cup in India but he played around 15 minutes in three group league games which India lost. He then joins Indian Arrows and played the 2017 and 2018-19 season’s I-League and then joined North East United in 2019. On 30th November 2020 Apuia became the youngest ever ISL captain when NEUFC clash against FC Goa. That was the breakthrough season for him in Indian Super League. Then in the subsequent season he moved to Mumbai City FC on 5 years deal.
Apuia became a part and parcel of midfield not only in Mumbai City FC Team but also in the Senior National Team. He got his maiden National team call up in 2021 under head coach Igor Stimac and since then he played 13 matches for India. Mohun Bagan attracted towards him in the last year during Mumbai’s AFC Champions League campaign. His outstanding performance in AFC Champions League against some of the top clubs of Asia likes of Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Persepolis of Iran catch many eyes of top clubs which include Mohun Bagan. Mohun Bagan offered him the lucrative deal just after the Indian domestic season is over in May and the Deal was materialized within one month. He was one of the best performing Indian players in the midfield with a average rating of 7.33. He was among the top Indian player with a passing accuracy of over 85%. His long ball accuracy was even better. With exceptional high rate of duals won in total 97 alongwith a blistering figure of 138 ball recoveries. He scored only once and provided 2 assist and created 17 chances for his previous team Mumbai City FC. Even in the Champions League he maintained 87% of accurate passes with 5.3 recoveries per game.
He can play as a defensive midfielder, as a central midfielder and as a attacking midfielder. He already became the ISL Champion with Mumbai in 2022-23 season and ISL Cup winner last year. So, he definitely knows how to cope up with the pressure of a higher rank team. This year is quite significant for Mohun Bagan as they entering the Group stage of the newly introduce AFC Champions League 2 and Apuia will definitely become one of the key player for the season ahead of us. We all hope a new high of his already decorated career will bring some international breakthrough for our Club in the upcoming season. Mariners’ Base Camp already had a short interaction during his visit in Kolkata after he joins Mohun Bagan and will happy to let all the mariners know that we are not only signed a good footballer but also a gem of a person with great maturity.
