FC Pune City striker Emiliano Alfaro is set to join ATK as a replacement for the injured Kalu Uche, said a report on Goal.com on Thursday.
Nigerian striker Uche had injured his quadriceps muscles during the 1-2 home defeat to Bengaluru FC and had to be substituted in the final minutes of the first-half. He was later ruled out for at least three weeks leaving head coach Steve Coppell and the ATK management to lookout for another striker on a short-term basis.
“Kalu has gone back to Barcelona. He had an extensive tear in his quadriceps muscles. It is grade three which is quite bad. He has gone to Barcelona to receive further medical treatment. He obviously leaves a big hole in our squad,” Coppell was as saying by Goal at the pre-match conference before the Pune encounter.
“We have requested the ISL whether we can replace him in the short team. They have said yes but that creates problems in itself because trying to find someone for a short period of time is very difficult.
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“We have sent feelers out for replacements. We expect Kalu to be fit around Christmas and so we are really looking for a player to fill in,” he had added.
Alfaro, on the other hand, began his stint in Indian Super League with NorthEast United in 2016. He was instantly successful and next season moved to FC Pune City where he partnered with Brazilian Marcelinho to take the franchise into the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.
The Uruguayan has, however, struggled for goals this term and has managed just one goal in five matches. He has also missed two crucial penalties and was therefore dropped from the playing XI in the last two matches both of which has ended in defeats.
Meanwhile, ATK has also struggled to score goals up front this season and with seven goals from as many games, they have the joint second worst record for the number of goals scored. Pune are last with just six goals from seven matches.
Uche was fairly successful for the franchise in the very few matches that he played and without him, the two-time champions have struggled to find the net.
ATK are sixth on the points table with 10 points from seven games, while Pune remain at the bottom with just two points and without a victory from seven matches.