Mohun Bagan make record offer to sign Sony Norde, ready to take on any ISL club

After the end of last season, which finished in heartbreak for Mohun Bagan (they finished as runners-up in both the I-League and Federation Cup), the club officials stated clearly that looking at the new season, they will only retain Sony Norde amongst its foreign contingent. Staying true to their word, the Mariners hierarchy have revamped their squad with no place for last year's skipper Yusa Katsumi, striker Darryl Duffy or defender Eduardo.

Norde, however, remains their crown jewel and the club are ready to go all out at the moment to get the Haitian to sign on the dotted lines. The Kolkata giants are now believed to have tabled an offer of Rs. 2.1 crore to get the winger back for the new I-League season, league sources close to the situation tell Sportskeeda.

This will make the Haitian the highest paid footballer in the I-League ever. For Mohun Bagan, the previous record was held by Okolie Odafa, for whom Bagan had shelled out Rs. 1.4 crores.

There has been consistent interest in the mercurial winger/forward and Sportskeeda have come to learn that recently, Jamshedpur FC had tabled an offer of Rs. 2 crores to lure the player to the new ISL franchise.

Speaking about the situation to Sportskeeda, a league source said, "As of now, Sony has not put pen to paper on any deal so nothing is written in stone. But the Mohun Bagan officials are confident on bringing their star back to the Maidan (Kolkata)."

Adding to the fact that Mohun Bagan are ready to pay Rs. 10 lakh more than their nearest competitor, Sportskeeda has also learnt that Norde's wife was in Kolkata earlier this month to check out an apartment to move in for the coming year, something that will be paid for by Bagan as well.

With the ISL and I-League taking place simultaneously this season, the club has seen a number of its Indian stars go out for greener pastures with nearly all their Indian stars gone. With stars like Debjit Majumdar, Balwant Singh, Anas Edathodika, Pritam Kotal, Sehnaj Singh, Souvik Chakraborty, Raju Gaikwad and Prabir Das all gone, Bagan are looking to build an altogether different side.

Sony, however, remains the man around whom the Mariners have decided to build the squad. The Mariners have already signed the highest scorer in I-League 2017 -- Dipanda Dicka -- and the lik Yuta Kinowaki, Eze Kingsley and Diogo Ferreira for the upcoming season but the capture of Sony Norde will be the cream of them all.