Churchill Brothers’ van den Brink deal falls through

Dutchman Bas van den Brink’s move to Churchill Brothers has collapsed due to issues over his medical. The Goan club found out after a medical examination that the defender has a knee problem.

Van den Brink, who was identified as the replacement for the highly influential Bilal Najjarin, has returned home, and the Churchill Brothers now are in a race against time to find a foreign central defender with the transfer window in India closing on February 15.

Churchill looked to be running away with the title after beating East Bengal 3-0 in Kolkata, but after that game Bilal made it clear to the Goan outfit that he would be leaving for UAE’s Fujairah SC. Since that win over East Bengal, Churchill have only picked two points in three matches and are now second in the table, although they have played two games less than league leaders East Bengal.

The 2008-09 I-League champions looked to have found an ideal replacement in van den Brink, who is an youth product of Dutch Eredivisie outfit FC Utrecht and last played for A-League’s Perth Glory.

Churchill were hoping to field van den Brink in the game against Prayag United on Sunday, but the Dutchman’s medical problem meant that Subhas Bhowmick had to field an entirely Indian defence and eventually could only manage a 2-2 draw.