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By Abiodun Adewale.
Queens Park Rangers defender Leon Balogun is racing against time to be fit for Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau in March due to injury problems.
The 34-year-old has been injured since November 8 in a Championship game against Huddersfield and was due to return in February.
However, reports in England are indicating that his three-month layoff could be extended well beyond March when Nigeria play Guinea-Bissau in a double-header AFCON qualifiers.
Last month, West London Sport revealed that Balogun had seen a specialist about his calf injury, with the green light to step up his training but he is yet to resume, with QPR manager, Neil Critchley, saying, “We’ve got some good news regarding Leon. He can step up his progress, but he’s still a little bit away at the moment.”
Balogun has not been seen on a football pitch since featuring for 45 minutes in QPR’s 2-1 home loss to Huddersfield last November.
The central defender had only just joined QPR as a free agent last summer and impressed early on with a goal in 11 games before the injury.
The injury issues and ageing has seen Balogun fall out of favour at international level with Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro dropping him in the last two games.
And it is unlikely that he will be involved when the continental qualifying series resume, with Nigeria facing Guinea Bissau in back-to-back matches on March 20 and 27.
His QPR contract will expire at the end of the season and there are already reports that the club will let him leave despite his impressive performances, because of his poor injury record.