Leon Balogun, a sturdy 6ft 2in (1.9m) and tipping the scales at 14st (89kg), was born on 28th June 1988 (sorry to remind you, Leon, but you're 36 now) in Germany. A servant of Rangers, the lad impostures as a central defender and dons the number 27 jersey (as if the numbers really matter).
His days of innocence in football began at Hannover 96 back in July 2008, where he made his mark... well, a small smudge really, making one appearance in his debut 2008-2009 season and managing a whopping two appearances the next. Some feat, that is. From there, he found himself transferred to SV Werder Bremen II in July 2010. He donned their colours for two seasons, making 48 appearances and netting 4 goals, proving defenders could occasionally find the back of the net.
Leon, seemingly an ardent admirer of the transfer window, decided he'd had enough of Bremen too and hopped to Fortuna Dusseldorf in July 2012. His stint at Dusseldorf lasted two seasons, where he made 28 appearances. He then did a quick stop off at Darmstadt 98 for the 2014 - 2015 season, adding a respectable 21 appearances and 4 goals.
After his brief adventure at Darmstadt, he packed his bags for Mainz 05 in July 2015. His tenure there lasted three seasons, where he made further 52 appearances and managed to score once. But the attraction of English football proved too irresistible, and Balogun was on the move again, this time to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League in 2018. His one and a half seasons at Brighton were uneventful, with only eight appearances and one goal. He was sent on loan to Wigan Athletic for half a season in 2020, where he made an additional 11 appearances.
Ever on the move, Balogun then headed north, transferring to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership in July 2020 where he romped around for two seasons, making a total of 40 appearances over this tenure. Not content with staying put, he hopped down south to Queens Park Rangers in 2022, only to return to Rangers a year later. He seems to have a thing for teams with 'Rangers' in the name.
Now in the 2024 - 2025 season, our dear friend Leon has made only four appearances for Rangers - a masterclass in effective time management, I must say. In between all this, he also found time to start in the Scottish Cup 2023 - 2024 and the Champions League Qualifiers 2024 - 2025 for Rangers. Here's hoping he continues this rich vein of form, eh?
