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Glasgow Rangers of Scotland trio of Leon Aderemi Balogun, Joseph Ayodele (Joe) Aribo and Calvin Bassey will not be able to honour their expected invitations to the Super Eagles’ camp until after January 2nd, megasportsarena.com reports.
Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr is hoping to have his players available for camping some three weeks before the Africa Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon early next year, but information emerging from Ibrox Stadium points to the contrary.
This is sequel to a hint by The Gers’ coach, Giovanni van Bronckhorst that he wants to have Aribo, Balogun, Bassey and all other players in the squad available for a crunch tie on January 2nd.
The Rangers’ gaffer added that he does not intend to rest any of his star players, thereby raising further worries that Aribo, Balogun and Bassey might be fatigued heading into Nigeria’s camp.
As it were, Balogun is still recuperating from a recent bout with injury, which Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr would hope not to relapse on international duty, but the stopper could end up playing for his club into early next year should The Gers’ doctors declare him fit to return.
It is now left to be seen how things will play out regarding the fitness of Bassey, Aribo and Balogun for AFCON 2022, for which at least the latter two are expected to be in Nigeria’s final roster, but their coach stressed that he is not even thinking about the competition.
Rangers have a hectic fixture schedule in December with eight matches to be played and could possibly be without the Nigerian trio later this month, but van Bronckhorst insists he is not worried about the Cup of Nations that is billed to run from January 9 to February 6.
That will be a huge blow for Aribo and Balogun, who are top bets for spots on the Eagles’ roster, barring injury, while Bassey looks promising with his recent impressive displays in defence, but their coach is thinking of keeping them until after their match with city rivals, Celtic on January 2.
“We know there is the Africa Cup of Nations coming in January but that’s something for January. I just focus on the games we have with Rangers until January 2, that’s our number one priority.
“That’s my focus, I am not thinking about resting those players because they play in the African Cup. The main focus is to get three points every game we play with Rangers,” van Bronckhorst concluded.
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