East Bengal have already completed the negotiations with English forward Jake Jervis and signed the 31-year-old. Everybody was hoping to see Jake Jervis in East Bengal colours very soon and was most likely to be available for the match against Jamshedpur FC on 13th January 2023.
However, things have taken a sudden turn for the ISL club as they are now unable to register the player in AIFF’s CRF. East Bengal have mutually terminated the contract with Eliandro to sign Jake Jervis but they are now in a tough spot. This is due to the ongoing controversy regarding the non-payment of fees to Omid Singh.
Details about the East Bengal – Omid Singh controversy
FIFA has earlier given an order to East Bengal to pay Rs 1.65 crores to Iranian player Omid Singh for not paying the salary earlier. Omid Singh was signed by East Bengal officials before Shree Cements came on board as the club’s investors. But after Shree Cements came in as an investor in 2020, they did not agree to sign him. Now, Shree Cements have terminated their contract with the club and Emami Group came in as the investor in 2022.
It is also reported that there was no signature on the part of East Bengal in the agreement. Due to this, the club are not willing to accept the footballer’s contract. Shree Cements’ officials have made it clear that they would not carry the arrears of any footballer from the time of Quess, East Bengal’s previous investors before Shree Cement.
Therefore, Omid Singh was forced to approach FIFA for arrears of salary and FIFA has now directed East Bengal to clear his dues and has imposed a transfer ban. Previously, AIFF had also imposed a transfer ban on East Bengal for non-payment of salary of around Rs 1.4 crores.
How can East Bengal sign Jake Jervis?
The only solution for East Bengal to register Jake Jervis is to find a way to clear the pending dues of Omid Singh or get a NOC from him to overturn the transfer ban which will allow the club to register new players.
