Balogun, Aribo to arrive late for AFCON tourney

The Nigerian trio of Leon Balogun, Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo will not report to the Super Eagles camp early for the 2022 AFCON tournament scheduled for Cameroun.

Instead, both players will be allowed to feature for their clubside Glasgow Rangers in their ‘Old Firm Derby’ clash with Glasgow Celtic.

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst made this clarification at a press conference.

“They will be here with the team, 100 per cent. For me, it was already clear that we would release them if needed after the Old Firm game,” Van Bronckhorst said:

“So we have the full squad until we go into the winter break.”

The Super Eagles players were doubtful to play for the Gers in the Old Firm clash at Parkhead.

They were expected to have linked up with the Nigeria squad in preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations finals which will kick off on January 9 and end on February 6 in Cameroon.

Rangers currently lead the Scottish Premier League table with four-points ahead of rivals Celtic.