Former Rangers star who'd love Ibrox return released by European club as search for new club begins at 37
Central defender weighing up next steps and life after football after becoming a free agent again
Former Rangers defender Leon Balogun has been released by Aris Limassol at the age of 37.
The centre-back has left the Cypriot club following the conclusion of his one-year deal, in which he played 26 games for Aris and scored two goals in the process. Four of those appearances came in the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
During his time on the Mediterranean island, the ex-Ibrox fan favourite was reunited with some familiar faces in the shape of former Gers team-mates Connor Goldson and Ross McCausland, who spent the entirety of the campaign on loan from the Light Blues.
McCausland has since returned to Glasgow, but for Balogun he will begin searching for a new club after Aris decided against offering him a contract extension.
A club statement confirmed this week: “Aris Limassol announces the completion of its collaboration with German-Nigerian defender Leon Balogun.
“The 36-year-old centre-back joined our club last July, signing a one-year contract, and made a total of 26 appearances for Aris. Of these, 22 came in domestic competition and four in European competitions. In the league, he scored two goals and provided one assist.
“We would like to thank Leon for his contribution to Aris and wish him every success in the next stage of his career.”
Balogun - capped 46 times by Nigeria - admitted in a recent interview with the Rangers Review that he remains an avid supporter of his former club and has been watching games on a regular basis from afar.
He joked: “We are following [Rangers] all the time and we probably become a bit unreasonable, fuming when we drop points. Especially me and Ros, we are following passionately.”
Balogun lifted the Scottish Premiership title, Scottish Cup and League Cup trophies during his time at Rangers. He was also part of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad who lost the 2022 Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville. He made over 100 appearances for the club across two spells.
What next for Leon Balogun at 37?
Balogun finds himself in the latter stages of his playing days and starting to weight up his options for life after football. He has expressed a desire to put down his roots somewhere after a well-travelled career that has taken him all over Germany as well as spells in UK with Brighton & Hove Albion, Wigan Athletic and QPR.
“I would love to do something for Rangers in some sort of capacity,” Balogun revealed. “I don’t know what the future will bring, recently I was thinking that maybe I would enjoy a sports director or technical director type of role.
“Then again, thinking about it at Rangers, that’s a very, very hot seat! I know what comes with it, the good and the bad, or let’s say the good and the tdifficult, but I don’t know for now, but I’ll definitely alwayshave a home somehow in Glasgow, I know that.”
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