Erik Paartalu, Bengaluru FC‘s giant, has officially left the club. The club made the announcement on their official Twitter handle. At 6 feet 4 inches, Paartalu’s towering presence in the midfield and defence was enough to scare the opponents. His influence all across the pitch pushed his teammates and team to reach greater heights.
Initially joining the Men in Blue on a one-year deal, Paartalu soon became a key member of Albert Roca’s squad. Roca’s team steamrolled the entire league with the likes of Sunil Chettri, Miku, Dimas Delgado, Edu Garcia and Erik. The team specialized in set-pieces and Erik played a major role in that.
“Corner to Bengaluru FC. Erik Paartalu is in the box. That’s a beautiful delivery and who else could it be! Erik Paartalu scores for Bengaluru FC yet again.” A regular routine that would send the fans wild. Thus, Erik took no time to become a fan favourite.
In 67 appearances, Erik bagged 9 goals and 17 assists in all competitions. He was a part of the squad that won the Indian Super League in the 2018/19 season.
Erik Paartalu will leave as a fan favourite
After a successful debut season with the club, Erik extended his contract till the end of 2020. However, Bengaluru FC have not been in the same squad after Albert Roca and his assistant Carles Cuadrat left. The relation between the club’s board and the player has turned sour over the past couple of months.
Back in May, their AFC Cup play-off in the Maldives was called off after there were allegations of breach of COVID-19 protocol by Bengaluru FC players. Photos from local news channels have shown the Australian with 2 Bengaluru FC members. He was left out of the subsequent AFC Cup squad as BFC opted to leave their Asian spot vacant.
A statement from Professional Footballers Australia suggested that the club was not allowing the player to train with them.
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