East Bengal have had an impressive transfer window this summer, patching up gaps throughout their squad. They ended up signing Hector Yuste as the second foreign centre-back alongside Hijazi Maher, who renewed his contract.

However, things could have turned out differently, as the club was keen on recruiting Jordan Elsey as their seventh defender. The centre-back suffered an ACL injury in the Durand Cup 2023 final against Mohun Bagan SG and went on to miss the entire season.

Jordan Elsey was considered as 7th new signing for East Bengal this summer

Day 11

East Bengal were contemplating re-signing Jordan Elsey as 7th foreigner for AFC Challenge League but eventually decided not to with the Aussie joining A-League side Adelaide Utd. Remains to be seen if EBFC sign additional foreigners for AFC competition#TransferSecrets
— Marcus Mergulhao (@MarcusMergulhao) September 20, 2024

The Red and Gold side eventually tried several options to fix their defence last season, including the recruitment of Aleksandar Pantic, and Jose Pardo dropping into central defence.

Although Elsey would have only played in the AFC Challenge Cup, he ended up joining Adelaide United in his native Australia. As a result, East Bengal decided not to pursue the transfer further.

With Mohun Bagan signing Nuno Reis exclusively for their AFC Cup games, it will be interesting to see if their arch-rivals one-up them and add a seventh foreigner to their ranks for the Challenge Cup as well.