Indian football star Sahal Abdul Samad met Sanju Samson ahead of the IPL 2026 retention deadline. All ten franchises will have to submit their retention lists by November 15.Sahal Abdul Samad plays as a midfielder and represents the Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the Indian Super League (ISL). The star footballer posted a picture with Sanju Samson on his Instagram handle.He caught up with Samson during training at the gym. Samad could be seen in a sleeveless black t-shirt and shorts. Samson was also seen in his gym wear, sporting a black t-shirt and shorts."An upgraded gym day 💪Met the coolest one around😉@imsanjusamson," he captioned the post. View this post on Instagram Instagram PostSamson replied to the post in the comments. He wrote that the two met for coffee at the gym. Both sports personalities were all smiles as they posed for a picture. The footballer then replied that they would meet for padel the next time.Screenshot of Sanju Samson's reply (Image Credits: Sahal Abdul Samad/IG)Sanju Samson to move to CSK ahead of IPL 2026 auctionAccording to reports, Sanju Samson is set to move to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) are likely to trade Samson in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.Samson has captained the Royals for the last few seasons. He began his IPL journey with RR in 2013. He returned to the franchise in 2018 after moving to the Delhi Capitals (DC) in 2016 when RR was suspended for a couple of seasons.In 149 games for the franchise so far, he has scored 4027 runs at an average of 31.71 and a strike-rate of 141.25 with two hundreds and 23 half-centuries. Under Samson, RR played the final in the 2022 season. Unfortunately, they lost to the Gujarat Titans (GT).The star wicketkeeper batter was retained for a massive sum of ₹18 crore by RR ahead of the IPL 2025 season. Reportedly, Samson wanted to leave the franchise after the end of the 2025 season. Should he move to CSK, Chennai will also have to pay the same amount to acquire his services.