Kolkata : It will be an interesting battle on the cards when ISL champions Chennaiyin FC stars Jeje Lalpekhlua and Bernard Mendy will look to get the better of them when they clash against each other for the first I League derby at the Salt Lake Stadium on January 23 . Jeje along with Luciano Sabrosa , Pronay Halder , Avishek Das and Brandon Fernandes signed in favour of the I League champions today at the IFA office . Jeje called up his Chennaiyin FC teammate yesterday night . The French international will be donning the Red and Gold jersey in the forthcoming I League . Immediately after his signing , Jeje expressed his desire to get past Mendy to score for his team in the derby “ Last night I had a word with Mendy . We were both team mates and good friends as well at Chennaiyin FC . I wished him luck at East Bengal .” The emerging player of ISL further added “ On the field we will no more be friends . I will not spare even my brother on the field , leave aside Mendy ”
Jeje had a wonderful season last year winning a rare treble winning the the ISL , I League and SAFF Cup . But his performance with the I League champions were not astonishing , “ Look I didn’t get enough opportunities last season as I was injured . But I will try to make up if I get an opportunity .”
Jeje had offers from both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan . On being asked why did he chose to sign for the Green and Maroon , he promptly replied “ I am a huge fan of Mohun Bagan and their offer was more lucrative ”
Mohun Bagan will have a potent strike force in the I League with the likes of Balwant Singh , Sony Norde ( due to arrive in India shortly ) and now Jeje joining them . On being asked whether he will get enough opportunities , he commented “ I want to play my natural game and score goals for my side . I believe there will a healthy competition amongst the three of us .”
Mohun Bagan also signed Abhishek Das, who played for East Bengal for last five seasons . The I League champions also signed Pronay Halder and Brandon Fernandes , both of whom had offers from other clubs . For Pronay “ I had a good offer from Bengaluru FC , but I wanted to play in Kolkata . I preferred playing for Mohun Bagan this season as they will be playing in the AFC Cup ” while Brandon feel “ I am honoured to be playing for the I League champions . They are a great side .”
Already tremendous amount of interest has been generated amongst the fans of both the clubs . There have been numerous battles on social media with hashtags #EbarAbar and #EbarNoyNever . Come January 23 , we will get to know who have the last laugh .