Mohun Bagan part ways with right-back Ashutosh Mehta

The 28-year-old is a two-time I-League winner and comes with great experience in Indian football.

Last season's I-League winners Mohun Bagan and defender Ashutosh Mehta have officially parted ways. On Tuesday, the club confirmed his exit via a video published on their various social media platforms.

"Thanks for doing everything amazingly right on our right. You will always remain special to Mohun Bagan family, Ashutosh Mehta. Good Luck," Mohun Bagan wrote. The 28-year-old right-back joined them from erstwhile FC Pune City in 2019 and made 21 appearances in the 2019-20 season, as the Mariners lifted the I-League trophy after a gap of five years.

Last week, Ashutosh Mehta had himself also posted a moving tribute to the club on Instagram, expressing his gratitude to them. "Thank you Mohun Bagan, it has been an honour," he had said.

The right-back began his professional football career in 2010, with the now defunct Mumbai FC. He made his I-League debut against East Bengal in 2011 and stayed with Mumbai for three more years, before joining FC Pune City on loan. In 2015, Mumbai City FC signed him and he went on to spend one season each on loan with Mumbai FC and Aizawl FC respectively. In 2017, ATK snapped him up ahead of the Indian Super League (ISL) season and in another year, he re-joined Pune City before making the move to Mohun Bagan in 2019.

Overall, he has made over 190 appearances for various clubs, scoring 11 goals. Apart from winning the I-League with the Mariners last season, he had won it once previously as well -- with Aizawl in 2017.

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Since the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, Mohun Bagan went on to merge with reigning ISL champions ATK to form ATK Mohun Bagan. The new entity will participate in the upcoming ISL campaign. They recently announced the signing of their seventh foreign player in Australia's Bradden Inman, while the likes of Roy Krishna, David Williams, Javi Hernandez, Carl McHugh, Edu Garcia and Tiri will also add more strength to the team apart from Indian names like Subhasish Bose, Sumit Rathi, Sk Sahil, Prabir Das, Manvir Singh and Michael Soosairaj.