I-League: East Bengal set to sign former Mohun Bagan defender Eduardo Ferreira

The former Pune City player had a decent season with Mohun Bagan last year and is set to don the Red and Gold colours now.

Kolkata giants have roped in central defender Eduardo Ferreira for the upcoming season, sources have told Goal. The born professional, who had represented Equatorial Guinea in international football, is expected to arrive in the city on Sunday.

The Red and Golds, who have not won the national title since 2004, are desparate to open their account in the rebranded version of the National Football League (NFL), but have fell short by small margins a number of times in the recent past.

With the capture of Eduardo, the club has now signed their sixth foreigner after Willis Plaza, Deon Mitchell, Mahmoud Al Amna, Yusa Katsumi and Charles de Souza.

There is some uncertaintly about the future of Mitchell at the club though, after the Trinidad and Tobago international has been ruled out for at least six weeks with an hamstring injury. His performance in the recently concluded Calcutta Football League (CFL) failed to impress many fans, but a source close to the player told Goal that East Bengal will have to pay his full salary in case they want to release him midway into the season. It will be interesting to see whether the outfit takes that route, especially with the likes of Arnab Mondal, Gurwinder Singh and Salam Ranjan Singh in their rosters.

The club has already made it known that they are not ready to play I-League before 15th November with a few of their players expected to be away on international duty. Baju, brother of 's Kamo Bayi, was expected to be signed as the central defensive midfielder after impressing in the Calcutta Football League (CFL) with newbies Rainbow, but now it seems his future will be dependent on that of Mitchell.

Jamil's men are fresh from their eighth consecutive CFL triumph, but in the absence of national glory, it will be regarded as another failed season for the team.