Australian midfielder Erik Paartalu and Bengaluru FC parted ways by mutual consent on Tuesday, the club announced on social media.
"The club and Erik Paartalu have decided to part ways by mutual consent. We thank Erik for his time at BFC and we wish him the best for the future," Bengaluru FC said in a statement on Twitter.
Assistant coach Naushad Moosa, last week, had remarked that Paartalu would rejoin the team once they return from their break to prepare for the Indian Super League.
However, the move comes as no surprise as back in July, Paartalu had suggested, via a statement from Professional Footballers Australia, that the club had been denying him a chance to train.
It is worth noting that the relationship between the player and club soured after their AFC Cup playoff was called off in May following reports of a breach of Covid-19 protocols by BFC squad members in Maldives. A photo from a local news channel had shown Paartalu and two other BFC members outdoors. The other two members in the photo are also no longer with the club.
Subsequently, the Australian was left out of the AFC Cup squad where BFC fielded just three foreigners as the Asian slot remained vacant. Paartalu had returned to India and was training at the Inspire Institute of Sport in Ballari, the club's training centre, for the past few weeks.
The towering defensive midfielder was one of the leadership figures in the team and won the Indian Super League and Super Cup during his time in Bengaluru.
The Australian played 67 league games for BFC, scoring nine goals and assisting eight more.
Published 21 September 2021, 16:04 IST