East Bengal “exploring possibilities” of Barcelona tie-up

Though the future of I-League still looks uncertain with East Bengal one of the seven clubs being show caused by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for boycotting the Super Cup, the club has been busy planning big for the future with a possible tie-up with Barcelona. 

The club announced it on their social media platform, where the club chairman Ajit Isaac revealed, “Senior officials of the Spanish giants, FC Barcelona and Quess East Bengal Football Club team, met to explore the possibility of an association between the two clubs. The meeting facilitated by Rakuten, the global innovation partner and sponsor of FC Barcelona, was held at Quess House in Bengaluru. Rakuten is incidentally advising FCB on expanding its footprint worldwide," reported TOI.

TOI has also reported that the club refused to give details about it, stating that it has still been in the stage of "exploring possibilities". However, with coach Alejandro Menendez extending his contract by two years and the club looking at an influx of Spanish players next season, the deal could very likely go through.

This hasn’t been the first time that the Kolkata-based club has tried tying up with Spanish giants though, as they were in close talks with Real Madrid a few years ago in order to associate with them at the academy level, which eventually didn’t work out.