Aris Limassol defender, Nigeria Super Eagles Leon Balogun, is looking forward to his latest challenge in Cyprus but has nothing but great memories of his time at Glasgow Rangers. The Big Man has not called time on his international career
“It is almost a continuation of how great my time with Rangers that it is Conor Goldson, my central defence partner at Ibrox, who was instrumental in me coming here. We won everything together in Scotland and I am hoping we carry on in the same vein at Limassol.”
Balogun believes that his time at Rangers helped bring out the winning mentality in him. “At Rangers, there was no room for complacency, we were expected to win in every game and that helped me a lot to have the motivation to go into trainings and matches. I am carrying this motivation into this new challenge. We will be playing in Europe, so there is a lot to play for.”
What could have made Limassol and the Cypriot League attractive to a player who has played in the Bundesliga and the Premier League? “I feel honoured that they (Limassol) made it abundantly clear they wanted me, that they believed in my qualities,” Balogun says. “I will bring my experience from those leagues, from matches at the International level with Nigeria to Limassol allied with my natural qualities to make sure we have a successful season.”
Speaking of International level and matches, Balogun last played for Nigeria under Jose Peseiro coming on as a sub in a 10-0 AFCON qualifier win over Sao Tome, June 2022.
Six months earlier he had missed out on the Cameroon hosted AFCON. “I was just recovering from injury when (Austin) Eguavoen spoke with me about the tournament. I told him I would love to be there but I couldn’t guarantee how my fitness would be. I did not think it would be the best for the team if I took the place of someone who was 100% fit. The team has always come first for me.”
Interim Coach Eguavoen was really keen on having Balogun there, “He kept in touch with me regularly monitoring my fitness but in the end we both agreed that it was okay for me to miss out. It was devastating for me to miss the tournament because I love wearing the green-white-green of Nigeria and love the intensity of AFCON tournaments.”
Leon Balogun and William Troost-Ekong built up a partnership dubbed ‘Oyibo Wall’ as Nigeria qualified for the 2018 Russia hosted FIFA World Cup. While Troost-Ekong has gone on to be established as the Super Eagles captain winning the player of the tournament at the Ivory Coast-hosted AFCON, Balogun has been conspicuously missing even when he has been fit and playing at Rangers and QPR before then.
Balogun has not retired from the national team and is surprised at his constant omission from squads. “I can’t say what the exact reason is for my omission from squads. When you consider the level of my performances at club level, there aren’t many in my position for the national team who play at higher levels.”
Does he think he upset someone important at the Federation? “I don’t know. Nobody has reached out to me to say that happened. I would be surprised if that is the case because I don’t recall saying or doing anything deliberately to upset anyone.”
Balogun says he is very grateful to the fans who still cheer him on and wish his recall to the Super Eagles, “I will keep doing my best at my new club and still hold out hope that I get a recall one day. I have left it all to God and lean not on my own understanding. I love playing for Nigeria and would always give my best if I get called up again.”
Balogun has signed a 1-year deal at Aris Limassol where he knows he would have to adapt to playing in hot weather conditions for longer periods, “I am hoping my body would remember my times playing for Nigeria and help me adapt quickly to the temperatures in Cyprus..” he says.
