A Glasgow Rangers-based blog, Ibrox Noise, have described Leon Balogun as the best defender in the Scottish Premier League alongside Celtic centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers after the Nigerian signed a one-year extension with Rangers, PRIMANEWS Sports Extra reports.
In his second spell at Rangers, the club on Saturday announced that they have extended the contract of the player just as they let five other players go.
The 35-year-old initially moved to Glasgow in 2020, winning the league under Steven Gerrard the following year.
After a short spell south of the border with Queens Park Rangers, the defender returned to the Light Blues last term, making 19 appearances and lifting the League Cup.
In the wake of the shake-up, manager Philippe Clement has stressed the need for a rebuild at Ibrox this summer after falling short to rivals Celtic in the league and Scottish Cup, but the outfit claimed that the manager only had faith in Balogun when he had no choice.
If one excellent piece of news was confirmed this weekend, it was the much-deserved contract extension for Leon Balogun, who is definitively the best defender in the Scottish Premiership alongside Carter-Vickers, who lacks the pace of Rangers’ Nigerian stalwart,” the article title ‘Rangers are much better for Leon Balogun’s new deal’ on Ibrox Noise stated.
“Balogun was overlooked, and Rangers’ defence suffered for it, especially in the final three months of the season. That Clement now comes out with a speech about how great Balogun is, is either him waking up to how good the ex-Werder man is, or him giving lip service to a deal he’s not actually interested in.
“He got 19 appearances all season, and let’s not forget this is the manager who omitted him from the European squad after Michael Beale had done the same thing at the start. Yes, you can babble about UEFA rules and restrictions, but the addition of Balogun would have helped Rangers so much in that tournament.”
The Nigerian is certainly looking forward to more time with the Gers.
“I am very, very happy and privileged to be able to extend my contract at a club like Rangers. I have said in the past I wish I could’ve been here sooner in my career because it fuels the fire to succeed all the time.”
