The end of the road for Kingsley in Bangladesh football?
Failure to become a regular in the Bangladesh national team and then Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) clubs snubbing the Bangladesh forward for the upcoming 2023-24 season has left Eleta Kingsley's career hanging in the balance in the country's football.
Kingsley made his debut for Bangladesh in their FIFA friendly matches against Seychelles earlier this year after obtaining his citizenship but the 33-year-old striker failed to score in any of the two matches and has been an absentee for the men in red and green in nine international matches since then.
Despite being a household name, things look much bleaker in club football for the two-time BPL champion as none of the 10 clubs in the country's top flight showed interest to sign him..
"He has gone to Nigeria on October 8 to attend to his ailing mother," Kinsley's wife Liza Jafar told The Daily Star on Sunday. "I don't know anything about his transfers. I think he can tell you about him better."
Eleta, who scored eight goals in 14 matches for Abahani in the previous season, was roped in by Chittagong Muktijoddha Krira Sangsad for five matches in the ongoing Saif Powertec Ctg Premier Football League but he was released after two matches following his failure to find the net in the two matches.
"He played 90 minutes against Shatodal Club and 45 minutes against Brothers Union but he could not score a single goal. It seemed to me that he lacked fitness following his weight gain and also had injury problems. So, we released him after two matches," Muktijoddha Krira Sangsad coach Akbar Hossain Ridon told The Daily Star. "However, there is no question over his scoring ability, shooting, and heading but he is not match fit."
Kingsley started his playing career in Bangladesh with Arambagh KS in the 2011-12 season of the BPL before playing for the clubs like BJMC, Muktijoddha Sangsad, Chattogram Abahani, Bashundhara Kings and lastly for Abahani.
He helped Chattogram Abahani clinch the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup in 2015.