Yesterday was the last day of the interim transfer window in the Bangladesh Premier Football League. There was curiosity in the football world whether Abahani, who played without foreigners in the first leg, will play without foreigners in the second leg as well? Abahani, which has been in crisis since August 5, confirmed two old foreigners who played for their club, Brazilian Rafael and Nigerian Emeka, at the very last minute yesterday.
The transfer process was ongoing even on Friday, a holiday. The deadline for the transfer process was 12 midnight. Abahani manager Satyajit Das Rupu had almost finalized the foreign player issues, but was waiting for the green signal from the club directors.
The club’s policy makers were in a dilemma about foreigners due to the lack of money for local footballers. Therefore, approval was given at the very last minute to take two foreigners.
Abahani manager Satyajit Das Rupu said about the foreign footballers, “The addition of two foreign footballers will increase our team strength a lot. The two foreign footballers were also very sincere about playing for Abahani. This was possible because they also made a lot of concessions.” Abahani conceded only one goal and lost one match in the first leg against the local footballers.
On the other hand, Bashundhara Kings, the five-time league champion, is not in a normal rhythm in the Premier League this time. They have released two foreigners, Frenchman Khasa and Nigerian Issa, who played in the first leg. There are two Brazilians, Miguel and Jonathan Fernandes. In the interim transfer, Kings have registered four foreigners. Among them, they have brought back old player Asror Gafurov from Uzbekistan. In addition, they have taken Ghanaian winger Evans Itti, 28-year-old Brazilian defender Dasiel and 32-year-old Argentine striker Juan Lazcano. Juan played in the junior team for Liverpool and Real Madrid.
