Pros and Cons to East Bengal FC retaining Saul Crespo for 2025-26 season

The 28-year-old has had an injury-marred season with the Torchbearers.

East Bengal FC’s 2024-25 season came to a bitter end as they suffered elimination from the 2025 Kalinga Super Cup after a 2-0 loss to Kerala Blasters FC. It was a pretty dismal end to what ended up being a very frustrating campaign for the Torchbearers, who only managed a ninth-place finish in the 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) as well.

The Kolkata side are expected to make a number of changes to their squad in the off-season to create a more competitive team for the next campaign. That will include changes to their foreign player department as well. Cleiton Silva left before the start of the Kalinga Super Cup campaign itself. The future of players like Hijazi Maher and Hector Yuste are also clouded in uncertainty.

One foreign player who is contracted for at least another campaign with East Bengal FC is Saul Crespo. The Spaniard had a pretty forgettable 2024-25 campaign, missing a large chunk of games due to injuries.

East Bengal FC’s management now need to decide whether to give Crespo another season to prove his quality or buy a new midfielder to add something new to their formula. Here we look at the pros and cons for East Bengal FC when it comes to potentially retaining Saul Crespo for the 2025-26 season.

Pros:

Experience factor

Saul Crespo remains one of the most experienced players in the East Bengal FC squad, despite all their problems. The 28-year-old has been playing in the ISL for the last few years now and has 44 appearances in all competitions for the Torchbearers.

Before that, he made over 50 appearances in LaLiga 2 and has a lot of expertise in how to add quality to his side’s midfield. East Bengal FC could find it tough to find an able replacement for Crespo who brings the same kind of experience and intricate qualities in the midfield line. The Spaniard is now well aware of how to operate with the Torchbearers and the kind of playing style that is necessary to thrive in the ISL as well.

He’s also versatile enough to play in multiple roles in the midfield, be it as a defensive midfielder, as a box-to-box midfielder or even in a slightly advanced role. His experience in adapting to different scenarios means that Crespo can potentially impress for East Bengal FC next season under a better system.

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Energetic, industrious presence in midfield

The encouraging thing about Saul Crespo is that he isn’t the kind of midfielder to slack off and let the teammates do the work for him. He loves getting really involved in the game play, working his socks off to cover a lot of distance and doing the dirty work for his side.

Despite only being restricted to 13 matches in the 2024-25 ISL campaign, Crespo was still able to win 70 duels and make 53 possession recoveries. He can be a really energetic figure in the middle of the park, being persistent with his pressing and nailing his challenges to win back the key areas.

Crespo helped East Bengal FC pull their own weight in the midfield battle in quite a few key games in the 2024-25 season because of his diligent work in the middle and ability to win important duels. He can excel in helping them push forward on counter-attacks and that is an asset that the club might opt to keep in their ranks for another campaign.

Goal-scoring ability

East Bengal FC might find it difficult to find a centre-midfielder who can also score goals because of the lack of available options in that department in Indian football.

Crespo, to his credit, has at least proven his ability to score some impressive goals on occasions for the Torchbearers. In his 48 appearances for the Red & Gold Brigade, he has scored 11 goals and managed four assists. This included the four goals he scored in the 2024-25 season, out of which one came in the 3-1 win over Mohammedan SC in the ISL.

Crespo has the ability to unleash some powerful shot from long-ranges which can trouble goalkeepers. He’s also pretty impressive in taking penalties, having an excellent conversion rate in that aspect too. He has averaged almost one goal per four games for East Bengal FC in their difficult period, and this can potentially increase if he’s given more freedom to roam forward and cause damage too.

Cons:

Injury concerns

A drawback about Saul Crespo is his tendency to pick up injuries at some important parts of the season. The Spaniard missed a major chunk of East Bengal FC’s 2024-25 ISL campaign, missing nine games because of an injury.

He also missed six games in their 2023-24 ISL season, which ended up hampering their push for a playoffs spot. East Bengal FC’s officials cannot be blamed for being frustrated towards Crespo’s tendency to pick up injuries. It might be because of his energetic presence or tendency to run himself to the ground, but his injuries have really hurt East Bengal FC in past seasons.

Hence, the club can’t be blamed for potentially thinking about replacing him with a fitter, more reliable midfielder who can be expected to survive through a campaign without major injuries.

Creative issues

East Bengal FC’s lack of creative threat came back to haunt them in the 2024-25 season and often caused frustrating results. The Red & Gold Brigade need more creativity in their team for them to start playing exciting attacking football, and Crespo didn’t really help them that much on the creative sense.

He only created 15 chances in his 13 ISL appearances, grabbing two assists. The 28-year-old couldn’t really prove himself as an ideal replacement for the injured Madih Talal, struggling to expand East Bengal FC’s attacking prowess or create that many big chances for them in the ISL or in cup competitions.

He might excel in ball winning ability, but Crespo’s final passes often fall short and struggle to add that bright spark. East Bengal FC could look for a more creative midfield talent who can also improve their build-up with special line-breaking passes.

Lacks leadership qualities

Saul Crespo was handed the East Bengal FC captain’s armband for the majority of the games in the 2024-25 season in which he featured. Unfortunately, he couldn’t really save his side from having a pretty  underwhelming campaign as whole.

While Crespo might be an experienced player have an energetic nature, he can’t really be an uplifting leader for the players. It might be a case of him not being vocal enough on the pitch or being unable to really drive his side forward.

Crespo could not stop his side from suffering a number of bitter defeats in the 2024-25 season or really motivate his teammates to their performances to a new level. His struggles as captain could compel the club to look for a stronger character who can push the Torchbearers to success next season.

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