Red and Gold register 29 players for I League
Kolkata: In a bid to bolster the defence, Kolkata giants East Bengal on Sunday confirmed the signing of Mumbai City FC defender Anwar Ali. He will join Indian national football teammate Arnab Mondal who suffered an ankle twist and has been ruled out for one and half month.
Anwar has had the experience of playing in Kolkata as he signed with Mohun Bagan for the 2010-11 and 2014-15 I-League seasons. He had an impressive season during his first period with Mohun Bagan, featuring 25 times at the heart of the defense for the Mariners.
With Anwar joining it will no doubt add more balance to the Red and Gold squad.
Arnab, who will miss Atletico’s semi final second leg clash against Mumbai City FC on Tuesday told
xtratime.in that he will meet Dr. Kanchan Bhattacharjjee on Tuesday to diagnose his injury. There is a huge possibility that the club might not get his service during the first few matches of the I League.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata football giants has so far finalized the names of 29 footballers for the forthcoming I League season. The Red and Gold has more or less signed a majority of the players needed to be registered for the league. The clubs can register a maximum of 35 footballers for the I League.
Although East Bengal has finalized most of the domestic recruits, but a major headache for them is the signing of the foreign footballers which includes an Asian origin footballer. The club has so far signed Haitian Wedson Anselme along with Ugandan Ivan Bukenya. They still have two slots left for the foreigners.
East Bengal coach Trevor James Morgan has already suggested a few foreign players name now plying their trade in the ensuing Indian Super League (ISL). The club is in talks with a foreign striker and an attacking midfielder. Among the strikers there are at least two names making the rounds in the club – Delhi Dynamos striker Richard Gadze and Kerala Blasters’ Antonio German.
Englishman German has come through the ranks of the Queens Park Rangers youth set-up. But German is not too keen either as he wants to concentrate on the ISL semi-finals coming up against Delhi Dynamos.
Delhi Dynamos Ghanaian striker Richard Gadze is also in the radar of East Bengal officials. Gadze is the joint second highest goal scorer in ISL with 5 goals.
The club is also in talks with a Japanese midfielder Kenta Uchida. The 27 year old footballer plays for J League 2 side Ehime FC. He is thought about as a replacement for Borisic, who has played for East Bengal earlier on Asian quota.
There are five goalkeepers signed by the officials. It will be trimmed down to three once Morgan starts training with them. Experienced Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, Rehenesh TP, Luis Barreto along with Dibyendu Sarkar and Abhishek Pal make the list of goal-keepers.
What is noticeable from the list is that the left side is pretty strong compared to the right. With the likes of Lalrindika Ralte, Bikash Jairu, Jackichand Singh and Abinash Ruidas, the Red and Gold have quite a strong left side on paper. Narayan Das and Robert are also predominantly left footed players. Comparatively in the right back, East Bengal has only Rahul Bheke and Samad.
The major concern for Morgan will be that there are no positive Indian strikers in the side. While arch rivals Mohun Bagan have already confirmed the services of Jeje Lalpekhlua, there is no big signing for East Bengal. The Green and Maroon also have Darryl Duffy in their side who is a positive striker. Sony Norde too is believed to stay on with the Mariners for another season. So, the attacking third is quite strong for Mohun Bagan compared to their arch rivals.
East Bengal has so far registered Jiten Murmu and Md. Rafiq, who cannot be relied upon to win the I League.
Here is the list of footballers so far signed by East Bengal:
Goalkeepers: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, Rehenesh TP, Luis Barreto, Dibyendu Sarkar and Abhishek Pal.
Defenders: Anwar Ali, Arnab Mondal, Rahul Bheke, Samad Ali Mondal, Gurwinder Singh, Robin Gurung, Kaushik Sarkar, Ivan Bukenya (foreigner), Narayan Das, Robert and Deepak Kumar.
Midfielders: Jackichand Singh, Rowlin Borges, Abinash Ruidas, Bikash Jairu, Lalrindika Ralte, Mehtab Hossain, Nikhil Pujari, Prahlad Roy and David.
Forwards: Wedson Anselme(foreigner), Mohammad Rafiq, Jiten Murmu and PV Suher.