Four players released by Churchill Brothers to join IMG-Reliance

Churchill Brothers have released four players including India internationals Lenny Rodrigues and Denzil Franco and they are expected to join IMG-Reliance to play in the Indian Super League. The other two players are goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya and attacking midfielder Jaison Vales.

The Red Machines won the Federation Cup last season and survived in the I-League by beating Salgaocar on the last day of the season. But failure to get the national license has seen them get omitted from the 2014-15 I-League.

The two-time Indian champions are still looking to remain in the I-League but since that is not assured the four players seeked a release and have been granted the same following a mutual understanding with the Goan outfit.

Churchill Brothers are among five clubs including Bengaluru FC, Pune FC, Salgaocar and Sporting Clube de Goa that are not willing to loan their players for the ISL. Hence without a release it wouldn’t have been possible for the quartet to feature in the much-awaited new league.

They are expected to sign a contract with IMG-R in the next few days.