Three East Bengal players who can benefit from Richard Celis signing

Richard Celis will look to make a name for himself in ISL 2024-25.

East Bengal strengthened their attacking force with the signing of Venezuelan winger Richard Celis in the January transfer window. They have roped in the 28-year-old as the replacement for the injured Madih Talal, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Celis comes into Indian football with over a decade of experience as a professional football. He has mostly spent his career playing in Venezuelan, but also has stints playing in Slovakia and Colombia. He also has four international caps to his name and although naturally a left-winger, he can play multiple roles in the attacking front, which will make him a versatile asset for Oscar Bruzon.

Even though the 28-year-old won’t be able to play in the Kolkata Derby, he should be fit and ready to go for matches soon after that. Celis will be determined to add more firepower and explosiveness to East Bengal’s attack. While he’ll be aiming to score a lot of goals, he’ll also be tasked to be a team player who improves those around him. Here are three East Bengal players who can particularly benefit from Celis’ arrival.

3. Lalchungnunga

Since the arrivals of Hector Yuste and Anwar Ali, Lalchungnunga has lost his role as centre-back at East Bengal. Instead, he’s been transitioned into a makeshift left-back due to their lack of quality options in that position.

To his credit, Lalchungnunga has been defensively quite sturdy in most matches and helped his side maintain a strong shape. However, he’s lacked that attacking quality demanded from modern full-backs. With the arrival of Celis, that burden of him having to march forward to try and create chances can probably be lowered.

The Venezuelan winger is a chaotic figure going forward, as he loves to burst past players and often create chances or get into goal-scoring chances all by himself. Celis’ proactive figure in the opposition half and tendency to run at the defenders would mean Nunga can stay behind and focus on his defensive contribution. That can allow the India international to be more careful with his challenges and mark opposition attacking players out of the game more efficiently.

2. PV Vishnu

PV Vishnu has arguably been East Bengal’s most exciting winger this season but has often been overwhelmed with responsibilities. The 23-year-old has proven himself as an excellent dribbler with his ability to burst past players but has often had to try extremely hard to get things done in the final third. The arrival of another threatening winger like Celis should give Vishnu some breathing room to focus on his work rather than try to create for others. He might have to shift to the right wing, but Vishnu has the skillset to be a threat on either wing.

If Celis takes up some of the creative responsibilities and shows himself capable of sending in quality passes from the wide areas and helping his teammates get a clear shot at the goal, Vishnu can be more expressive with his playing style. The 23-year-old can look to make more unpredictable off-the-ball runs to get into empty spaces in the box and at the end of crosses to score more goals.

1. Dimitrios Diamantakos

The lack of consistency has been the most frustrating factor about Dimitrios Diamantakos this season. But the Greek forward can probably argue that he’s not been given the right kind of service needed to be a goal machine for the Torchbearers. Well, he can probably expect more help on the creative front with the arrival of Celis. The Venezuelan winger, who has 27 assists (including two in the Copa Libertadores) in his career, tends to set things up for his forwards.

Diamantakos has to work harder with Celis in training to create the kind of understanding with him and let the South American star know exactly how to feed him into key areas in the final third.

If Celis can start filling that creative void in the East Bengal attack and consistently provide quality output for Diamantakos in the opposition box, then the Greek striker should score many more goals in the second half of the campaign.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.