Leon Balogun is a bit of a football nomad, if you will. Born in 1988, in Germany, Balogun plays primarily as a central defender, standing a respectable 6ft 2in (1.9m) and tipping the scales at around 14 stones (89kg). His current employment sees him donning the jersey number 27 for Rangers. A far cry from his Celtic contemporaries.
Balogun's football journey, muddled and diverse as it is, commenced with Hannover 96 in the 2. Bundesliga in Germany, circa 2008. His performance record for his debut season was just as decorative as a winter solstice sunrise; he managed to mark his presence on the field a single occasion. Remarkable, I know. The following season was a step ahead with two first-team appearances.
In July 2010, Balogun bid adieu to Hannover 96 and welcomed his stint at SV Werder Bremen II in the Regionalliga Nord in Germany, a transfer as impressive as leftover haggis. His scorecard showed 28 first-team appearances and one goal in the 2010-2011 season. He followed up with a slightly more remarkable record of 20 first-team appearances and three goals the following season.
From there, it was onto Fortuna Dรผsseldorf in 2012. He registered 17 first-team appearances in his opening season, and followed that up with a modest 11 appearances the year following.
In what can only be described as a chronic case of the roving boot, Balogun then switched to Darmstadt 98 in October 2014. Here, he made 21 first-team appearances and even scored four goals, which, by Balogun's standards, was akin to a goal-scoring spree.
Next came Mainz 05 in 2015 where his ability to hit the back of the net seemed to regress back to his Hannover days, scoring one goal in a total of 52 appearances over three seasons.
The Brighton & Hove Albion chapter in 2018 saw him making eight first-team appearances and scoring a single goal. When he transferred to Wigan Athletic on loan in January 2020, he managed 11 appearances without a goal to his name. As they say, practice makes a perfect spectator.
In 2020, Balogun decided to display his footballing prowess, or lack thereof, to the discerning spectators of Scotland, joining Rangers. In the 2020-2021 season, Balogun made 19 first-team appearances, followed by 21 in the 2021-22 season. Balogun must have realized that the grass was not as green as advertised by the Rangers, resulting in his switch to Queens Park Rangers in 2022, only to return to Rangers a year later.
A tally of his playtime afforded him 19 appearances in 2020-2021, 21 in 2021-2022, 14 in 2023-2024, and, currently, in the 2024-2025 season, 17 first-team appearances with but a single goal to his name.
As a bonus, Balogun even managed to participate in two League Cup starts, a singular Champions League qualifier, and seven appearances in the Europa League for Rangers in the 2024-2025 season.
In sum, don't expect the streets to be paved in gold or the hoisting of celebratory banners if Balogun decides to bring his unique talents to our beloved Celtic. From our point of view, he'd be much better off sticking to his roving ways.
