Mainz Give Green Light To Balogun To Hook Up With Nigeria For Algeria, Argentina Games

Bundesliga club Mainz have given the green light to Leon Balogun to hook up with the Nigerian national team for the upcoming games against Algeria and Argentina.

The central defender was included in the Super Eagles latest roster at the start of this week, but his participation in the two matches was questionable after undergoing surgery two weeks ago.

Although Balogun made Mainz's match day squad on game week ten last Friday, in truth, it was just to make up the numbers as manager Schwarz could not count on three defenders Alexander Hack, Niko Bungert and Gaëtan Bussmann, who are all recovering from injury.

Mainz posted on their official website : ''For Balogun and Nigeria, there will be a qualifier in Constantine against Algeria (Friday, November 10), four days later it will go to Krasnodar for a friendly against Russia. ''

Since returning to Germany after the World Cup qualifier against Zambia four weeks ago, Balogun has managed only 79 minutes of game time from a possible 360.

Balogun and his Mainz teammates face Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga this afternoon.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel