East Bengal mull options of roping in fresh foreigners for I-League

KOLKATA: South Korean forward Do Dong-hyun's future at East Bengal looks uncertain with the club contemplating options of launching their I-League campaign with a new quartet of foreigners.
Do Dong, who returned to South Korea after playing in the Bordoloi Trophy last month, is yet to rejoin the team's practice session.
British defender Callum Angus, who joined the red and golds at the start of the season, has also returned home.He had missed the Bordoloi final owing to fever.
Having won the CFL Premier League for the record seventh consecutive season, East Bengal failed to land their second trophy, going down to Nepal's Three Star FC 2-1 in the Bordoloi final, which was held at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on September 30.
Although there is no official confirmation yet but sources with the knowledge of club affairs have indicated that both Do Dong and Callum are unlikely to be retained for the I-League.
The third foreigner - Nigerian Somide Adelaja, who was roped in by the club to play in both the CFL Premier Division and Bordoloi Trophy - has already been released.
The club, it has been learnt, is unhappy with Do Dong's recent performance in particular.
The South Korean announced his arrival at the club last season with a bang, helping the side tame arch-rivals Mohun Bagan with a brace on way to helping the side win the CFL Premier Division. He also emerged as top-scorer of the local league.
Do Dong, however, failed to live up to expectations since then. Although he signed a fresh one-year contract with the club at the start of the season, his performance in the latest CFL, held two months ago, also looked hardly convincing.
Although Do Dong's fate is now in the hands of coach Trevor Morgan, who is set to resume his office in December, the club is understood to have given the British coach freedom to choose "a fresh set of foreign players", if needed, according to one source.
The club has also sounded out Atletico de Kolkata's Iain Hume and a few other foreigners, currently playing in the Indian Super League. "It's too early to say anything about this," is how a club official would like to put the situation in perspective.
The I-League is scheduled to kick off in the first week of January.