'That Goal Didn't Help Me Too Much' - Balogun Reflects On Difficult Spell At Brighton

Nigeria international Leon Balogun could be bidding farewell to Brighton & Hove at the end of next month when his contract expires.

The central defender would be leaving the Seagulls with a bitter taste in his mouth, having found game time difficult to come by with only five starts in the English Premier League across two seasons.

Balogun has said that he did everything humanly possible to change his situation at Brighton without succeeding, forcing him to join Wigan Athletic on loan in the January transfer window.

"What happened at Brighton? Nothing, that's the problem. To be honest, I couldn't even tell you, I have done my best, I have done everything I could. I have pretty much left no stone unturned but it wasn't supposed to be," Balogun said in an Instagram conversation with the Super Eagles Media Team on Friday evening. 

"I am not going to speak bad about anyone, I know that I have done everything I could, I don't think that everything was always fair on my part but that's football."

Balogun's only strike for Brighton came against Crystal Palace shortly after coming off the bench in a Premier League game in December 2018, and he was puzzled that the goal did little or nothing to help his cause to break into the starting lineup eventually.

"There are choices that have been made and those choices were not made on my behalf or not made in my favour and I have to accept them, that's more so like another downside of the game that happens.

"Even that goal didn't help me too much," he concluded.

Balogun lost his place in the Super Eagles starting lineup to Kenneth Omeruo and later Semi Ajayi post-AFCON as a result of his limited playing opportunities at Brighton.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : brightonandhovealbion.com