Leon Balogun makes permanent switch to Wigan Athletic

Brighton & Hove Albion defender Leon Balogun has completed a permanent move to Championship side Wigan Athletic on a free transfer.

The Nigerian international had joined the Latics on loan in January. He was out of contract with the Albion at the end of June and has signed a short-term deal with Wigan, allowing him to play for Paul Cook’s side in their final games of the restarted Championship season.

Leon Balogun has become a popular figure at the DW Stadium since moving to Wigan from Brighton. He has played six times so far, helping his new club to record four clean sheets in victories over Millwall, Reading, West Bromwich Albion and a draw with Luton Town.

Those results have seen Wigan climb out of the relegation zone, three points clear of the drop in 17th spot. The wins against West Brom and Millwall were particularly impressive, given both sides are in promotion contention at the other end of the table.

Balogun had only featured twice this season for the Albion under Graham Potter, both in weakened teams named by the Brighton boss in cup competitions.

He played in the 2-1 Camila Cabello Cup fist round win over Bristol Rovers back in September as part of a back three. For January’s disappointing FA Cup third round exit at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday, he lasted just 45 minutes at right back where he looked like a fish out of water before being hauled at half time.

It’s fair to say that Leon Balogun’s time with Brighton hasn’t worked out as well as either party would have liked, although the Albion are probably marginally more happy seeing as they haven’t lost any money on him in terms of transfer fees despite his departure to Wigan for nothing.

Balogun arrived in the summer of 2018 on a free transfer from Bundesliga club Mainz. He became the first Nigerian to play for Brighton since Emeka Ifejiagwa in 1999, who lasted two games before it was discovered he was in the country illegally and he had to be deported.

Balogun faced a tough task in breaking up Chris Hughton’s favoured partnership of Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy. An injury to Dunk gave him an early opportunity when he replaced the Brighton vice-captain in the 3-2 home win over Manchester United in August 2018 and he started the following week in defeat away at Liverpool.

He looked a decent prospect in those two outings but first team outings became limited after that and on the rare occasions that Balogun did get a chance, he tended to make a pretty catastrophic mistake.

In Brighton’s 2-1 win against Huddersfield Town in December he was lucky not to be sent off just seconds after replacing Bruno as a 78th minute substitute.

Balogun conceded the penalty which gave Crystal Palace their consolation in Brighton’s 3-1 win at the Amex. It was his blind pass on the halfway line that sent Chelsea scampering away to score when Maurizio Sarri’s side won 2-1 at Falmer just before Christmas and Balogun was part of the Albion defence who had a torrid time in a 2-0 defeat at Plucky Litte Bournemouth.

His best howler came away at West Brom in Brighton’s FA Cup fourth round replay, when he simply stood still and watched a ball drop out of the sky rather than head/kick/do anything to clear it.

Kyle Bartley took advantage to give the Baggies the lead. It took Glenn Murray coming off the bench to score a double – including one with his penis – to spare Brighton the embarrassment of elimination against the Championship club.

Balogun did not feature again under Hughton following that bizarre moment at the Hawthorns. His lack of match action cost him his starting place in the Nigeria national side, which explains why he was so desperate to move from Brighton to Wigan for first team football.

Despite the numerous goals that Balogun cost the Albion in weird and wonderful circumstances, he will always be remembered fondly for his one strike at the right end in Brighton colours.

It came against Palace, an hour before he conceded a penalty. Duffy had just been sent off with only 28 minutes played and Hughton threw on Balogun in place of Pascal Gross as part of a tactical reshuffle with the Albion down to 10 men.

Balogun had been on the pitch for just 25 seconds when he met a corner with a crashing volley that flew into the Palace goal to put Brighton 2-0 ahead.

It was the quickest goal in the Premier League last season by a substitute and given the identity of the opponents and the circumstances, it is one he will always be fondly remembered for.