Three East Bengal players who can benefit from Ake Arnaud Loba's signing

Loba can add an extra attacking outlet for the Red & Gold

East Bengal have seemingly completed their squad for the 2026-27 campaign with the signing of Ivorian forward Ake Arnaud Loba as their sixth foreigner.

Because the Red & Gold Brigade have the chance of using the maximum number of foreigners in their 2026-27 AFC Champions League Two matches, they have pushed their way towards adding more quality to their frontline in the form of the 28-year-old forward.

Ake Arnaud comes to join the Indian side with decent experience behind him, having been playing at the top level since 2016. He’s even spent many years playing in the MLS and Liga MX, and in the 2025-26 season, the 28-year-old forward played in the Libyan Premier League as well.

Arnaud has been brought on board to add more explosiveness to East Bengal’s frontline, with Antonio Habas wanting him to increase the goal-scoring threat of his side and pose himself as something of a different option than Nsungusi Effiong.

Arnaud is primarily a centre-forward, but has showcased versatility to being able to play out wide if necessary as well. His adaptability to different situations should inspire the Ivorian forward to be a hit among the East Bengal players.

There are a few East Bengal players who will probably benefit the most from the arrival of Loba into their frontline, as we look at those options here.

3. Edmund Lalrindika

Edmund Lalrindika has enjoyed a really promising start to the 2026-27 season for East Bengal, as he scored a hat-trick in the 2026 Durand Cup final win over Mohun Bagan and looks to be well adapted to Antonio Habas’ system as well.

Now that the Torchbearers have a new forward in the form of Ake Arnaud Loba, it also gives the gaffer some incentive to use both Edmund and Loba together in a front two for some matches at East Bengal.

Edmund can form a really nice chemistry with the Ivorian forward, who really likes quick link-up play with one-touch passes and is also smart enough to send his teammates into key areas in the final third. Lalrindika can bounce off Loba’s vibrant attacking style, being able to work with him to create more clever attacking chances for East Bengal.

He can also potentially benefit from having an unpredictable presence in the frontline in Loba, who can help Lalrindika find himself in more goal-scoring positions for East Bengal and enhance his goal threat for the Kolkata giants.

2. PV Vishnu

Even though he can play in a variety of different positions for East Bengal, Ake Loba will probably mostly be used as a centre-forward in Habas’ frontline. After seeing his heroics in the MLS and Liga MX, with the 28-year-old also scoring seven goals for CF Monterrey, the Spanish gaffer is probably going to maximize his goal-scoring potential for East Bengal.

To his credit, the Ivorian forward is also really adept at tracking the movement of the ball in his side’s attacking build-up play and getting himself into the right areas at the end of crosses.

That should make him a valuable teammate to have for PV Vishnu, who will definitely want to rack up his assists tally for East Bengal in the 2026-27 season. Vishnu is going to look to get in more accurate crosses into the penalty area, knowing that the unpredictable presence of Arnaud is lurking in to capitalise on them.

Because of the Ivorian’s element of surprise in converting clever crosses, he can track Vishnu’s delivery perfectly and link up nicely with the Indian winger to trouble the opponents.

1. Dani Ramirez

Antonio Habas will be hopeful that his new foreigners are able to form some promising chemistry with each other, because that will absolutely be crucial towards helping East Bengal dominate matches and score more goals. After the signing of Ake Loba, it’ll be pivotal for Dani Ramirez to be able to form an intuitive partnership with the Ivorian forward for East Bengal to be firing on all cylinders in the attack.

Ramirez has been signed to be the main creative force for East Bengal in the 2026-27 season, and he has a lot of pressure on him after coming in as the replacement for Miguel Figueira.

The Spanish midfielder will look to be smart with his link-up play and connection with Arnaud, playing clever one-two passes with him to trouble the opposition players.

He’ll need to nail his passes into the penalty area for Arnaud to latch onto them and scoring more goals for East Bengal, enhancing their overall attacking threat and making them an unpredictable thorn for opposition defenders.

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