Flury of foreigners at East Bengal

Saturday, 04. July 2009 - Pit Ruddy

Quality foreign footballers are the ones who create difference in the I-league championship and so East Bengal will be trying out a few to find the perfect foreigners for the club.

This is a belief which East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick holds very close to his heart and in pursuit of such a belief he will be having as many as five foreigners for trial when he commences his pre-season training on July 15. The planning till now is to have three weeks of endurance training on the beaches of Puri in Orissa and three weeks of technical-tactical training in Kalyani.

The foreigners who will join the bandwagon are Ghanian Yakubu Yusif, Brazilian Edmilson Marques Pardal, Argentinian Sebastián Monesterolo, Czech Jan Berger and Ramiz Jamal Dayoub from Lebanon. Of these Dayoub is a certainty as he will fit the bill of an Asian under the 3+1 rule. Seasoned Yakubu looks also a certainty. Jan Berger, cousin of Patrick Berger who played for Liverpool, is a central midfielder and he will have to undergo medical and fitness tests before been drawn into the side. The shootout for one foreigner’s place will be basically between Edmilson and Sebastián. Berger and Sebastián are reaching Calcutta on July 12 & 14 respectively. Four Players of Indian Origin (PIO) have been shortlisted and one will be utilized according to the requirement of the team. After having completed the recruitment of foreigners Subhas is all set to take a break in Shantiniketan, in Bolpur where he will be drawing up his plans for the season.