Juan Cruz Mascia leaves NorthEast United to join Argentine outfit Chacarito Juniors

The Uruguayan striker is the third foreigner to leave the club after Bartholomew Ogbeche and Federico Gallego.

The exodus from NorthEast United this summer seems to be endless as another key player, Juan Cruz Mascia, has left the squad to seek greener pastures. The Uruguayan moved back to South America to join Argentine outfit Chacarito Juniors on a Bosman transfer.

The 25-year-old had signed for the Highlanders only last year and appeared 13 times under former head coach Eelco Schattorie, scoring twice and also delivering an assist in the process.

Mascia rose through the ranks at several Uruguayan clubs like Miramar Misciones, Nacional and Plaza Colonia and now at Chacarito, this would be his first stint in Argentine football.

The forward is the latest to leave after Bartholomew Ogbeche, Rowllin Borges, Keegan Pereira and Federico Gallego all parted ways with the Highlanders. To add to their misery, Mato Grgic is also believed to be joining the ranks at Mumbai City. Earlier, the club had lost their head coach as well as assistant coach Shaun Ontong, both to Kerala Blasters and are therefore without a senior coach at the moment.

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In their defence, the club managed to retain the likes of domestic talents such as Nikhil Kadam, Provat Lakra, Redeem Tlang, Lalthathanga Khawlhring and Pawan Kumar for the next season. Adding to that, they have also brought in Lalengmawia and Ninthoinganba Meetei from Indian Arrows, while Wayne Vaz was signed from Churchill Brothers.

The departure of Mascia, however, leaves the club with a deficiency in attack, especially as they urgently require a #9 for the next campaign. It is believed that once the club announce a new head coach, they will begin with their transfer business and till then the fans may need to have a little patience.