Quess East Bengal has announced that they have completed the repatriation of two foreign footballers Johnny Acosta and Kassim Aidara and assistant coach Carlos Paz.
The official statement from investors Quess Corp read, "Quess Corp/Quess East Bengal FC is pleased to inform that with the help of senior officials of Air India and the tenacious coordination of designated company officials, the repatriation of the three remaining foreign players/staff has been successfully completed despite severely restricted international flight availability."
The club also provided an update on the travel itinerary of the three individuals. Kassim Aidara flew to London via New Delhi on June 14. He was also provided with an overnight stay in the national capital organised by the club. The midfielder had earlier refused to travel in May as he did not have the requisite immigration papers to enter the UK at that time.
As per the club, Costa Rican defender Jhonny Acosta had refused to fly back to his homeland back in May and early June and later unilaterally decided to book his tickets on June 15. Acosta is presently in Delhi and will fly back to Costa Rica on June 19 by a special Air India evacuation flight.
Physical trainer and assistant coach Carlos Nodar did not fly back to Spain with the Spanish players and other coaching staff on May 4. He finally left the city on Thursday for Mumbai and from Mumbai, he will travel back to Madrid. The club has provided him with a transit hotel stay in Mumbai.
Both Jhonny Acosta and Kassim Aidara had earlier lambasted Quess Corp for non-payment of their salaries. Acosta had even slammed the company for being 'apathetic' to his situation and not helping him to return to his country.
Aidara had called out the Bengaluru-based company for being 'disrespectful' towards the players and termed the whole issue as a 'disaster'.
