Jose Luis Espinosa Arroyo, aka ‘Tiri’, became Jamshedpur FC’s first major international signing ahead of our debut Hero Indian Super League season, and Assistant Coach Ishfaq Ahmed has hailed the Spaniard’s arrival.

The towering central defender from Los Barrios has previously plied his trade with Spanish sides like Cadiz, Marbella and Atletico de Madrid’s ‘B’ team.

Tiri, 26, pronounced himself in the Hero ISL with Atletico de Kolkata in 2015, posting a semi-final finish, where they lost to Chennaiyin FC.

In the 2016 edition however, he was ever-present in ATK’s backline, helping the side script a title-winning campaign.

And Ahmed feels Tiri’s experience of having played in India before, married to his technical abilities, will add great value to the Jamshedpur defence.

He explained, “Well, we had a discussion, the coach (Steve Coppell) and me, regarding him, and I think he was one of the best defenders in the league last year.

“The fact that he is a left-footed centre-half – you’ll find rare centre-halves who play with their left foot.

“So, one of the things will be, he will bring his experience here – he has done it here [previously with ATK]. He’ll be knowing what he has signed for and that experience will be handy.”

To know more about Tiri’s defensive stats, click here.