ATK part ways with Eugeneson Lyngdoh

The 32-year-old failed to regain his position in the starting XI at the club after returning from a prolonged injury.

Two years after making him their highest-paid Indian signing, ATK announced that they have mutually agreed to terminate Eugeneson Lyngdoh’s contract with the club earlier on Thursday. The 32-year-old is now a free agent, having only made handful of appearances since his cruel injury against Jamshedpur FC in the 2017-18 campaign.

Despite being one of the most important signing of ATK's 2017 ISL Players Draft, Lyngdoh struggled living up to the great expectations set by him from the management. The former Bengaluru FC man displayed some promising performances in his first season with ATK, but the unfortunate knee injury suffered at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in 2017 was the beginning of his downfall at ATK.

He missed the entirety of that season as the Kolkata side stumbled into an embarrassing ninth-place finish, but started showing promising signs after returning to fitness prior to last season. However, Steve Coppell didn’t feel like he was fit enough to feature for his side and only used him in a handful of occasions throughout the season. Lyngdoh only made five appearances for the Kolkata side last season, starting only a single game as ATK struggled to make the playoffs for the second season running.

With Pronay Halder establishing himself as their midfield general thanks to his reputation and Gerson Viera’s promising performances from the middle, Lyngdoh wasn’t really able to win back his regular place in the team. As the Kolkata side has a makeover after unveiling Jose Antonio Habas as their next manager for the upcoming season, the experienced midfielder just couldn’t make the cut and agreed to leave the club to pursue some other adventure.

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The experienced midfielder joins Debjit Majumder on the departure list, but the experienced goalkeeper was loaned to his former club Mohun Bagan for the upcoming season. Moreover, they’ve already made some significant acquisitions months before the next season kicks off, signing Jobby Justin and Michael Soosairaj. ATK have also further fortified their defensive shape by adding Carl McHugh to their ranks in order to find an adequate partner for John Johnson next season.

Reaching the sunset in his celebrated career, in which he’s the I-League, Federation Cup and was also adjourned the AIFF Player of the Year in 2015, Eugeneson is probably determined for a last hurrah to prove that he didn’t lose his majestic controlling ability after the injury nightmare.