Mohun Bagan players free to play for any club

Mohun Bagan's star players like Okolie Odafa, Tolgay Ozbey and Syed Rahim Nabi are free to leave the green-and-maroon brigade and play for some other clubs, stated AIFF senior vice-president Subrata Dutta in the wake of the ban slapped on the club for violation of rules.

The AIFF core committee on Saturday suspended Mohun Bagan for two years after the report submitted by one-man commission of Retd Justice A K Ganguly found the century-old club guilty of not playing the second half of its I-League derby against East Bengal on December 9.

"The Mohun Bagan players like Okolie Odafa, Tolgay Ozbey, Syed Rahim Nabi are all free to join other clubs on lien. We can't stop professional players from earning their livelihood. They can request Mohun Bagan that they wanted to be loaned out," Dutta said.

Asked if Mohun Bagan refused to release the players, Dutta said, "The players are only bound to honour the contract of the club if they are ready to pay the full amount for the remaining part of their contracted tenure."

Dutta also clarified that provided any Mohun Bagan player wants to play for any other club on lien, the suspended club will have no right to demand any monetary compensation from the new club.

"Supposedly player 'A' of Bagan wants to play for Dempo, the Goan outfit need not pay a single penny to the player's former club. Bagan will have to pay their fees or else give them NOC's to play on lien," Dutta added.