Joe Aribo Misses Another Match This Weekend, Balogun Likely To Return

Glasgow Rangers of Scotland midfielder, Joe Aribo has been ruled out of action for the second weekend running due to injury, but Leon Aderemi Balogun is back into reckoning for a shirt after returning to training during the week, megasportsarena.com reports.

While Balogun should get a shirt for Saturday’s Scottish Premiership game against Hakeem Odoffin’s Hamilton Academical, Rangers’ coach, Steven Gerrard admitted that Aribo will not be available for selection, as the former Charlton Athletic of England dazzler is yet to fully recover from a knock he copped in training.

That same injury ruled him out of last weekend’s trip to Kilmarnock and, though it had earlier been thought that he would return to action to this Saturday, Gerrard has confirmed that the game comes too soon for the Ondo State indigene, but revealed that Balogun has returned to full training and will be assessed to determined whether he should be included in the squad.

Gerrard admitted he felt relieved to be handed a pre-match boost with Balogun returning to full training, as the former Fortuna Dusseldorf, Werder Bremen, Hannover 96, Darmstadt and SV Mainz of Germany stopper joined up with his teammates during their penultimate workout before their trip to face Odoffin’s side at Fountain of Youth Stadium in the city of Hamilton.

It would mark a huge comeback for Balogun, who missed two straight matches after he suffered a quad injury in The Gers’ 3-0 win against St. Johnstone on August 12, which ruled him out of the back-to-back games against Livingston and Kilmarnock.

However, while Gerrard is beaming over the return of Balogun, who helped Rangers maintain a clean sheet in five out of five initial matches in the new season, it is a different story for Aribo, who also sat out the last two matches due to an ankle complaint.

Gerrard added:”Jermain Defoe and Joe Aribo won’t make the Hamilton game. Both should be ready for the game after. Leon Balogun is back, he trained fully yesterday and will train again fully this morning so we’ll assess his situation before we make a decision in terms of the squad.

“Allan McGregor has had no reaction and has trained fully all week, so two positive news but unfortunately Joe and Jermain won’t make the weekend.”