An update has emerged on Rangers centre-back Leon Balogun after his midweek injury scare…
What’s the latest?
Gio van Bronckhorst has provided a triple boost for the club ahead of their clash with Annan Athletic on Saturday, including the news that the Nigerian defender has not suffered a major blow despite limping out of Wednesday night’s win over Hibernian.
Rangers quoted him as saying: “Filip (Helander) has been training for a few weeks and will be involved tomorrow. I am really happy for him after a spell out. Leon (Balogun) had a scan and it was very positive, it wasn’t as bad as we first thought. Ryan (Jack) will return to training this weekend.”
Elated
Van Bronckhorst will surely be left elated by the results of the scan, as Balogun is an important player for the club and could play a big role between now and the end of the campaign.
The Nigeria international has proven that he is a top performer at Premiership level, and losing him for a significant period of time would have been a big blow for the Dutch head coach. It would have left him with Calvin Bassey and Connor Goldson as his only fully fit first-team options at centre-back, with Helander only now returning from his injury.
In the Premiership this season, Balogun has averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.06. This comes after he averaged a score of 7.13 in his debut campaign at Ibrox, showing that he is capable of delivering quality displays on a weekly basis in Scotland.
He has also caught the eye in Europe, with a sublime Europa League rating of 7.25 in the group stage this season, scoring against Brondby in one of his four outings. His experience and quality in the competition could be crucial ahead of their knockout clash with Borussia Dortmund this month.
Meanwhile, Bassey has averaged a score of 6.95 in the Premiership this term. Whilst this is still an impressive rating for the defender, it does suggest that he is not on the same level as his compatriot and that Rangers’ team is weakened by the former Wigan man being out due to injury.
This is why this update will come as a huge boost to Van Bronckhorst, who will be elated with the positive news. Although it still remains to be seen exactly how long Balogun is out for, at least it is not as serious as first feared and should not be a long-term absence for the 33-year-old.
AND in other news, Rangers can finally replace Ibrox dud with “excellent” machine, he won’t cost a penny…
from FootballFanCast.com https://ift.tt/XqLD5VJ
via IFTTT