East Bengal sign Christopher Payne as fourth foreigner

The Red and Gold have released Ildar Amirov after some weak performances...

Following an unexpected turn of the events, Kolkata giants East Bengal has turned their interest away from Ildar Amirov following his below-par performances in the recent games and have replaced him with Christopher Payne on Wednesday. The fourth foreign player has been a tricky customer and has failed to fill in the boots of the Korean Footballer Do Dong this season.

Christopher Payne, hailing from Australia was confirmed as the new fourth foreign player for East Bengal FC on Wednesday to a KhelNow executive. The 26-year-old striker had been playing for Sydney United 58 in the National Premier League-NSW in Australia and will join the Red-and-Golds Brigade ranks in few days.

Payne, who has represented his country in the U-20 and U-23 age groups has made 14 appearances donning the Aussie colors and scored one goal. However, his club career has been eventful till now where he has scored 62 goals in 167 appearances for 10 different clubs. The Australian striker had previously won the A-League Championship and the A-League Premiership in 2009-10 season with Sydney FC whereas he won the Waratah Cup with Sydney United in the past year.

East Bengal already has three heavy foreign names at their disposal in Wedson Anselme, Willis Plaza and Ivan Bukenya who have successfully contributed in making the Kolkata giants the best attacking force in the league. However, with the overflowing attacking options in the East Bengal team, the East Bengal head coach now has to find a place for the Australian striker in his line-ups considering all of Wedson, Plaza, Robin Singh and Haokip has been impressive this season wherever they had started.