BAICHUNG BHUTIA may come from one of the remote corners of India - Sikkim near the Himalayan mountains - but don't be fooled into thinking he's a backwoodsman.

The 22-year-old striker is India's captain and star player, played in front of crowds of up to 140,000 for his club East Bengal and speaks perfect English, a result of attending boarding school from an early age.

He has a number of endorsements with several multi-national companies, including Reebok and Pepsi and has become one of India's few alternative sporting heroes to its cricketers.

He's the star of Indian soccer, the country's first high-profile, endorsement worthy footballer.

And, as his representative Jaz Bains says: "Now he has become the first Indian-born footballer to play for a professional club in Europe he is much more marketable."

He is likened in his homeland to the Italian ace Paolo Rossi because of his classical opportunist play in front of goal.

But that's just one facet of his game. He can also construct goals, dancing and dribbling into the 18-yard box, feinting an opponent with a dip of his hip. He can hustle the opposition too.

"He is very strong. He might not look it, but he is. Mark my words, you've got another David Johnson on your hands here," added Bains. In Gangtok, Sikkim, where Bhutia comes from, he is the local hero. He started his career as a 16-year-old when he was spotted playing for a local club side against East Bengal and they quickly moved in for the kill.

The rest, as they say, is history as he clocked up 25 goals in 40 internationals for India. He moved to new club JCT and hit 14 goals in six games for them to help them to the inaugural Philips National Football League in 1996-97.

In 1997-98 he returned to East Bengal and was voted Player of the Tournament in the 1997 and 1999 Coca-Cola South Asian Football Federation Games.

Bhutia had gone about as far as he could go in Asia and it was then that German coach Otto Pfister urged him to try his luck in Europe.

That's how he ended up on trial at Aston Villa, Fulham and, finally, Bury last summer and now the football fans of two continents, Europe and Asia, await his debut for the Shakers with eager anticipation.

As well as securing Bhutia on a three-year contract there are other spin-offs, and a pre-season friendly against the Indian national side at Gigg Lane next summer could be among them.

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