Calcutta: Ending months of speculation, Mike Okoro finally arrived in the city on Monday. The Nigerian will go to the East Bengal club during Tuesday’s morning practice session and is expected to sit with coach Subhas Bhowmick.

About 200-hundred club supporters thronged the airport in the morning to welcome their “saviour,” as one club official put it.

Looking slimmer and also tired (after about 18-hour journey from Poland), Okoro headed straight to his now New Alipore residence with a senior club official. “Okoro had a brief discussion with the coach. He’s going to join the team practice in the morning tomorrow,” said the official.

Okoro had played a significant role in helping East Bengal win the back-to-back National Football League titles in 2002-03 and 2003-04.