Kolkata: The long awaited turmoil is finally over. The ‘tug of war’ to sign ace forward Balwant Singh among East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and ISL has finally come to an end.
Balwant’s agent confirmed www.xtratime.in that Balwant has ultimately signed for the ISL draft today and not for East Bengal or Mohun Bagan.
It is learnt that both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan showed a lot of interest to sign the prolific goal scorer. But Balwant became emotionally attached with his former club Mohun Bagan despite some strong interest from the Red and Gold brigade. He almost made up his mind that he would sign for the Mariners. But then changed his mind at the last moment.
Sources revealed that the reason why Balwant signed for the ISL draft is that he would get more competitive games in the ISL compare to the I-League. In the latest format of Indian football, there is only one so called ‘competitive’ fixture in the I-League in a season and that is the Kolkata derby. On the flip side, all the top players will play the ISL. Hence, Balwant rooted for the franchise league instead of the I-League.