Glasgow Rangers of Scotland defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun could be back in action this weekend, should the word of his coach, Steven Gerrard be anything to go by, as the Liverpool legend insists the Super Eagles’ star is not suffering any long-term complaint, megasportsarena.com gathered.
Although missed his fourth straight match after bowing out during the warm-up ahead of last weekend’s Scottish Premiership clash with Dundee, Gerrard insists it is not something to be unduly worried about and expressed some optimism that the stopper, who arrived on a free transfer, after ending last season with Wigan Athletic of England, should be back playing soon.
Gerrard’s verdict came soon after Balogun’s much-awaited comeback on Saturday ended on a sad note, when the 32-year-old defender cropped another injury during the warm-up, thereby marking another setback for the former Fortuna Dusseldorf, Darmstadt, Werder Bremen and SV Mainz of Germany star, who also missed games against Livingston, St Johnstone, and Hamilton.
He could not be part of The Gers’ history on Saturday, as Rangers became the first Scottish side to open a season with seven straight clean sheets and maintained their three-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a 4-0 win over Dundee United.
Ironically, aside the setback that hit Balogun, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Jack and Brandon Barker also all had to leave the field early; while another Super Eagles’ star, Joe Aribo has now also missed four straight matches.
Gerrard, who earlier admitted that Aribo could face six weeks out with an ankle injury, feared Morelos had suffered even worse damage following a shocking tackle from Ryan Edwards, while Balogun was ruled out in the warm-up with a tight quad, with the pair of Jack and Barker both down with calf and hamstring issues respectively.
However, while Balogun looks set to miss yet another key match for the squad, as the Germany-born star cropped a tight quad injury few minutes before the game, Gerrard downplayed the matter and informed that it was more of a precaution that saw the defender yanked off the list.
Gerrard told Sky Sports: “Leon felt tightness in his quad. Hopefully, we’ve caught that one early. We could have risked that one but there was no need as we had Fil Helander ready. Going off what I have just seen in the treatment room, there is definitely going to be two, if not three, missing for a couple of weeks. We need to add pretty quickly so that our numbers are OK.”
