Kolkata , December 29 : Lenny Rodrigues and Balwant Singh joined Mohun Bagan practice today ahead of the I League preparations . Lenny has joined the I League champions on a loan from ISL franchise FC Pune City .He was dropped from the National side before the World Cup Qualifier against Oman and Guam. It will be the first season for the Goan playing for any Kolkata outfit . He was the backbone of his former club Churchill Brothers with whom he played for six seasons at a stretch .With Shehnaz Singh switching his allegiance to archrival East Bengal , Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen would have to rely a lot on Lenny.“Lenny has joined our practice from today . I want to watch him for a couple of more days before taking any decision”
Brazilian Luciano Sobrosa will be joining the side on January 04. Luciano will add much needed solidity to the Mohun Bagan defence. But Bagan coach is a bit circumspect with the Brazilian’s fitness,” I don’t know what his condition is . I will keep him in my playing eleven only after assessing his fitness .”
Meanwhile there is a confusion with East Bengal’s fourth foreigner Bright Lukeman , as when the Ghanaian will arrive. There is possibility that Lukeman might not reach India before East Bengal’s first match against Sporting Clube de Goa on January 10 . Suddenly the name of Dudu Omagbemi is also making rounds at the club . East Bengal official Debabrata Sarkar said,” We didn’t want to release him but due to the marquee player rule , we had to release him” He also made it clear that East Bengal won’t sign Orok Orok. Joaquim Abranches and goal keeper Luis Barreto joined the training from Tuesday . East Bengal are also in talks with FC Goa defender Narayan Das.
“Narayan has expressed his willingness to play for our club . We too want to sign him. We already signed Kaushik Sarkar from SAI. So we are not thinking about signing the likes of Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika”, said Debabrata Sarkar .
Meanwhile ex footballer Arun Ghosh will inaugurate the East Bengal Academy in Rajarhat on 16th January. Former East Bengal footballers like Kuljit Singh,I.M. Vijayan, Jo Paul Ancheri, Bruno Coutinho and Bhaichung Bhutia are also invited.