ATK Mohun Bagan have further strengthened their backline with the addition of right-back Ashutosh Mehta. Despite strong interest from champions Mumbai City FC to acquire his signature, the 30-year-old rejoins the Kolkata club from Northeast United. He was a key member of the Bagan squad when they won the I-League in 2019. Ashutosh Mehta was one of the many Bagan players who had switched sides following the merger with ATK.
He enjoyed a great season with The Highlanders, alongside a reunion with his former Aizawl head coach Khalid Jamil in the second half of the season. Impressed by his performances, Mehta earned his first call-up to the national team when India faced UAE and Oman in March. Following that, he had sustained an injury which forced him to miss the remaining World Cup Qualifier matches.
With Prabir Das’ recent injury problems and underwhelming performances, Ashutosh Mehta will be an important member of the ATK Mohun Bagan squad. He will provide much-needed balance in both the offensive and defensive departments, which Prabir’s temporary replacement in that position, Pritam Kotal, failed to.
ATK Mohun Bagan will begin their AFC Cup preparations in August and have been working hard to build a champion squad following an underwhelming season by their standards. They were defeated twice by eventual champions Mumbai City FC, one of them resulted in Bagan losing out on the ISL shield while the other one was a defeat in the ISL finals.
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