Leon Balogun not travelling with Rangers squad to Lyon
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has confirmed that Leon Balogun won’t travel with the Rangers squad to face Lyon.
The Gers play the Ligue 1 side in their final Europa League group game on Thursday [9 December].
However, they will have to do without the 33-year-old who hasn’t been deemed fit enough to travel with the rest of the squad.
Speaking to the Glasgow Times, he said: “Regarding the team news, I think Leon Balogun cannot travel this afternoon.
“Regarding the game, we are going to watch closely the physical state of my players and it is also a game where I can change some positions to give the players some minutes who need that.”
Bad news for Balogun.
The 33-year-old hasn’t played a game since van Bronckhorst replaced Steven Gerrard with the Dutchman much happier playing Calvin Bassey alongside Connor Goldson.
However, with the Gers already through, you would have thought that this could have been an opportunity for him to play Balogun.
The former Wigan Athletic man has plenty of experience and has been a reliable player for the Gers whenever he has been called upon.
However, he hasn’t had the opportunity to display his worth to GvB yet and it looks as if he will have to wait a little bit longer as well.
With both teams through, we expect to see a whole host of changes from both sides and you would have thought Balogun could have been in with a shout of starting the game.
That won’t happen and now we must wait and see if he is going to be ready to play against Hearts at the weekend.
In other Rangers news, the club have confirmed a new addition to their academy staff.