Wigan Athletic of England defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun has come out with a startling declaration that he has always considered himself strong physically, despite several bouts with injury, which have curtailed his exertions with club and country, megasportsarena.com reports.
Indeed, from his very first match with the Eagles, Balogun copped an injury in a friendly against Mexico, which ultimately ruled him out of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, after which he faced similar thorny issues with fitness challenges.
However, the Germany-born mulatto stopper, who played in his country of birth with Fortuna Dusseldorf, Darmstadt and SV Mainz before moving to Brighton & Hove Albion, from where he is on loan at Wigan, insists his physical attributes are his best assets.
Ironically, a spate of injuries affected his surge at Brighton and led to him losing his regular starting spot with the Super Eagles at last year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, since which Balogun has not featured for the Nigerian team since playing as substitute in their quarter-final clash against South Africa, but he still believes he is not injury-prone.
While also naming himself among the Eagles’ fastest players, along with Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru and Oghenekaro Etebo, Henry Onyekuru, Balogun noted that some people praise him for being composed during matches and that he is able to read the run of play very well, but he stressed that the best part for him is the physically he gives the Nigerian team’s back-line.
Balogun told FunnyBone via Instagram: “It’s good to hear comments about how I’m composed, calm, read the game because I have always been strong physically but had to work on those aspects of my game. I am fast, but people do not realize how fast Nigerian players actually are. Onyekuru, Simon, Etebo are phenomenally fast and I guess I have some good Nigerian genes.”
