End to confusion: Sony Norde declares that he will join the Mohun Bagan squad soon

WHAT HAD BEGUN with a social media post ended with another. Chaos and confusion had reached a fever pitch over the last few days regarding Sony Norde's return to Mohun Bagan for the I-League 2015-16, one that even led to some in-fighting between fans. But all that came to an end this morning when it was officially announced that Sony would indeed join the Green and Maroons in the coming few days.

After ISL had got over, Sony Norde had announced that he would return to the club he helped make the Champions of India after 13 years. But no formal deal was signed. Sony returned to Haiti to take a few days' rest, then joined the national team for a play-off qualifier for the Copa America Centenario tournament to be held in June. 

But after the match, a Facebook post of his triggered a nervous reaction among fans and fuelled speculation that Sony had an offer from a Mexican club, and might not come back to India.

Confusion took over as multiple rumours hit the internet. Some claimed the winger was angry over Mohun Bagan deciding not to include his fellow Haiti national team colleague Judelin Aveska in their squad for I-League. Others claimed that Sony was asking a fee of Rs 6 lakhs per match. There were even claims that the deal was at a deadlock because of the add-on goodies that Sony wanted along with his wages. None of the club officials could come up with a definitive statement. Sanjay Sen's comments to the media, saying he did not know anything about Sony's deal, added to the confusion. Reports that Mohun Bagan were looking for an alternative player started emerging. Leading the race, it was claimed, was Bruno Pelissari from Chennaiyin FC.

Things took an uglier turn yesterday when the official Mohun Bagan twitter account got into a Twitter tiff with a fan-run account. The fan-run account had tweeted their belief that Sony would join the Mariners in the end, and many had mistaken that as a statement made from the official account. 

Any tweets send from any such IDs are not official statements of the club. They are just fan run twitter handles.

— Mohun Bagan (@Mohun_BaganAC) January 11, 2016

@souravscorner @MohunBagan Stop acting smart Sourav Ghosh. The confusion is due to the name.

— Mohun Bagan (@Mohun_BaganAC) January 11, 2016

@MohunBagan There were continuous queries throughout the day regarding the Sony's post that was made from your id.

— Mohun Bagan (@Mohun_BaganAC) January 11, 2016

It appears that people in the club stayed up all night, staying in touch with Sony, to clear the matter. And early in the morning, relief dawned when Sony Norde posted this on his official Facebook page:

Mohun Bagan fans everywhere will breathe a sigh of relief at this news. The defending champions, who will play in Asia alongside I-League, desperately needed their star from last season back in the squad, at least ahead of the Kolkata Derby on 23rd January. The title race this season is tougher, with at least 4 clubs looking like they can have a go at the highest footballing honour in the country. Sony Norde's return will add a a lot of fire-power to the Mariners' arsenal, and a bit more spice in the competition in the coming weeks.