Folarin Balogun’s future at Arsenal has been a subject of speculation, with several clubs expressing interest in acquiring the talented young striker. However, here are 10 compelling reasons why Arsenal should resist any temptation to sell Balogun.
- Potential for Growth:
At just 20 years old, Balogun possesses immense potential for growth. His performances at the youth level and his impressive goal-scoring record at Stade Reims demonstrate his ability to thrive at a higher level. Arsenal should nurture and develop this talent within their own ranks.
🗣️| Former Arsenal and current Nice midfielder Aaron Ramsey on Folarin Balogun:
“I’m not the Arsenal manager, but Balogun’s very good. We played against him a couple of times, and from what I saw there, he's a very exciting player to have in your team.
“Arsenal have many great… pic.twitter.com/MKTozBvBk4
— Arsenal Buzz (@ArsenalBuzzCom) June 24, 2023
- Natural Goal-Scoring Instinct:
Balogun’s natural goal-scoring instinct is a rare quality. His ability to find the back of the net consistently is a valuable asset that can greatly benefit Arsenal. With the right guidance and opportunities, he could become a prolific scorer for the club.
- Versatility:
Balogun’s versatility adds depth to Arsenal’s attacking options. He can lead the line as a traditional striker or operate as a second striker or even on the wings. This flexibility allows Mikel Arteta to utilize him effectively in various tactical setups.
🚨 Folarin Balogun did not feature in the USA's match against Jamaica as he has left the USA camp so he can prepare for Arsenal's upcoming pre-season 🇺🇸 (@Football_LDN) pic.twitter.com/g6iTwI80XQ
— Le African Gooner (@leafricangooner) June 25, 2023
- Homegrown Talent:
As a product of the Gunners’ youth academy, the American represents the club’s commitment to developing homegrown talent. Retaining him sends a positive message about Arsenal’s belief in nurturing and promoting young players, strengthening their identity, and selling a project to the current crop of young players in youth set-up.
- Long-Term Investment:
Rather than opting for short-term gains, keeping Balogun is a long-term investment. With proper support and guidance, he can become a cornerstone of Arsenal’s future success, both on and off the pitch.
🚨 Arsenal have set a £35M price tag for USMNT striker, Folarin Balogun, amid interest from premier league rivals after an impressive loan spell with Stade Reims, in France.
🗣️ London Rivals, Crystal Palace are said to be among the clubs interested in the player along with… pic.twitter.com/o685ye7dOy
— afcsphere (@afcsphere) June 24, 2023
- Financial Benefits:
Selling the academy graduate now might bring in a significant transfer fee, but the cost of finding a suitable replacement could outweigh the immediate financial gain. Investing in his development eliminates the need to spend heavily on acquiring a new striker.
- Squad Depth:
In a demanding season, having a deep squad is crucial. Balogun’s presence provides additional competition and options in the attacking department. He can be a valuable substitute or even challenge for a starting role, driving healthy competition within the squad.
I’ve seen enough, sell Eddie Nketiah & keep Folarin Balogun. pic.twitter.com/1hhVaWdCZz
— 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧 (@BallinKy_) June 19, 2023
- Cultural Fit:
The 22yo’s association with the London side from a young age has allowed him to develop a deep understanding of the club’s values and culture. This familiarity can foster a stronger connection between the player, the fans, and the club, enhancing team spirit and unity.
- Impact in Cup Competitions:
With Arsenal competing on multiple fronts next season, with one of them being the illustrious UCL, Balogun’s presence can make a significant impact in cup competitions. He has already proven himself in the domestic cup competitions and can be a valuable asset when rotating the squad or chasing crucial victories.
https://twitter.com/KyranLFC/status/1671206746071740444
- Symbol of Hope:
Keeping Balogun can serve as a symbol of hope and ambition for Arsenal’s fans. Amidst challenging times, the belief in nurturing and retaining young talents sends a positive message about the club’s commitment to building for the future.
Conclusion:
Folarin Balogun’s potential, natural goal-scoring instinct, versatility, and status as a homegrown talent make him a valuable asset that Arsenal should definitely retain. Investing in his development not only strengthens the squad but also demonstrates the club’s commitment to nurturing young talents and building for the long term.
He is the true fabric of what Arsenal Football Club stand for. And when you have players of that status at home base, you never let them go.
Writer – Yash Bisht
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We need and instinctive goal scorer, if not him, then we need someone else.
His USA goal is the perfect example of what Eddie doesn’t/can’t do….on the shoulder perfectly then breaks perfectly to get ahead.
We are stuck with Eddie. He may be valued at the amount as Balogun, but no one will pay him the salary Arsenal is paying him. We cannot have three CFs
I don’t think he can play better than Martinelli and Nelson on the left wing. If Havertz doesn’t play CF, I’d prefer Arsenal to try Balogun out
If Balogun is used sparingly next season or if he performs worse than Jesus, his selling value will drop significantly. I hope the fans won’t blame Arsenal if that happens
Gai,
I hope Arsenal’s delay in signing players won’t affect the club hugely this season. Liverpool, Chelsea, NCastle etc have already signed players. Of all the players we are linked to RLavia seem the cheapest why waste time? I am skeptical and hoping Havertz won’t dissapoint. ESR is performing very well with two beautiful goals in under 21 World Cup.
Any counter argument to these facts is indicative of a lack of honesty, long term vision and affection for Arsenal, period.
“…lack of honesty”??
Arteta obviously does not consider him to be sufficiently talented to improve our first team squad, hence the reason for selling him despite his goal scoring ability and good age profile.The fact that the player has openly discounted the prospect of going out on loan again, may have influenced Arteta’s decision .
And we know Arteta is failing most of the times in transfer. If Bologun was from other club like Chelsea and Homegrown then He would have bought him for 80M price. As of now No other club will pay 50M for Havertz
Grandad, I haven’t seen anywhere that Arteta wants to sell him. Could be just pure media speculation.
Up for sale, is he? Not seen that anywhere.
The next couple of weeks will see if he stays or goes
Personally I would keep as he is an upgrade on eddie
But if the figures that have been flying around are anything to go by and someone is willing to pay it then bank the money
Failing that, bring him in to the squad if he wants that of course
Well put together article. I think the issue is that realistically, Balogun is not going to displace Jesus as the primary striker. Maybe he should, but he won’t. Jesus will remain the primary ST unless we bring in someone like Vlahovic, who has a proven status as a top class striker in a (historically at least) strong league.
I just don’t think a good season in Ligue 1, where he scored fewer goals than Old Man Lacazette, is indicative of him being of sufficient quality to be the leading striker in a team intent on competing at the top of the table and in the ECL, and I don’t think he will be content with sitting on the bench for 85 mins of every game.
This is another reason why I think he will be sold. Arteta’s squad usage is awful; with him proving reluctant to make in-game changes and not being very creative when he does. Eddie seems ok with that, but I don’t think Balogun will be. He wants to play, and rightly so, but he won’t and let’s not pretend he will.
It’s disappointing because I think he should stay, certainly ahead of Eddie, who whilst he seems to be a hard-working lad, isn’t, and probably never will be, good enough for this level. Balogun might be. I’d love to see him be our first choice striker because I think Jesus is a better winger than centre forward but it ain’t gonna happen.
We shouldn’t repeat the same mistake when we let Harry Kane go only for him to become world-class elsewhere. Balogun has potential, he scored 22goals for a first division league!
He has more than earned the chance to play for Arsenal.
There is a feeling from football train eyes and know how people like the gaffer myself included thinks Balogun is just not at that level required yet.
Scoring two dozen goals like Lacazette in France league one and replicating that in the premier league is no easy feat.
It would do the American a world of good to take another year on loan and hone is skills before giving ultimatum.
Rubbish!!
Mbappe, Neymar and Messi were in that league. Saliba was in that league did he fail to replicate it in the Premier League?
HH
Saliba is like a generational talent, train eyes spotted the young Frenchman many moons ago, at a tender age he was sold for £27 mill.
The legendary Henry told Amazon prime the kid was never given a chance.
The kid himself said that loan spell was not neccessary.
Am a little surprised you had used Saliba for comparison.
The best decision in my opinion is to keep the kid but not necessarily to throw him in at the deep end.
What’s rubbish is to sell the lad without giving him an opportunity at Arsenal. Didn’t Arteta readily admit his mistake with Saliba?
We can always reassess in January. Not like Arteta and Arsenal are scared of devaluing players, canceling contracts, or letting players walk for nothing.
Didn’t we waste an opportunity to sell AMN? Spurned a 20 million offer, and then wasted him on our bench.
Not like Balogun’s value would nosedive in 6 months.
Spare me the financial concern; 65 million for Havertz, possibly 100 million or more for Rice, back to Era of massive salaries, and Nketiah on 100k a week to ride the bench.
Financial concerns ring hollow, especially when we’re approaching 600 million spent under Arteta and massively inflating the wage bill.
Durand
Football has gone mad
If you think we are bad at moving on players at less fee then valued or what we paid for them then afc are pretty sane compared to clubs such as United, chelski and even city who lost there captain for nothing
United I heard have 5 or 6 up for sale
Some costing 80m and they are looking for 40m plus
Cheslki have sold on after just 1 year And taken a 15 to 20m hit allegedly
The world has gone bonkers
I don’t agree has it is run but happy at lest we are spending again
30 years ago the highest fee was approximately 3 to 4 m
Now an average player cost 20m plus topping 106m for the record
Def heads gone
In 1996 Alan Shearer was the most expensive player in history when he was bought by Newcastle Utd for £15M which would be about £30M now. These days someone who has had half a good season in the Ukrainian League will set you back £80M 🤣
I really don’t understand people saying he’s being sold! As far as I’m aware no decision has been made on his future and I fully expect to see him in preseason games.
It’s not a matter of Arsenal keeping him, it’s a question of if he really want to stay… Is he willing to accept that he will start from the bench? As good as he has been in the french league, he needs to prove himself in England.
Let’s for me alone I will sell Eddie and keep him for the cup games and substitution for the Frontline. But he should be willing to stay. The time has past for sentiments.
Balogun wont be at Arsenal next season. He will be sold. Balogun doesn’t see a future at Arsenal.
Ramsdale
Zinchenko
Jesus
Odegard
B White
Gabriel
Trossard
Gorginho
Parety
Kivior
Tomi
Turner
Yeah MA and Edu have really
stunk it up in the past few
windows.
SMMFH over and over and over
Response to GunnerbyHeart
You are just painting rosy picture by putting only names of good transfer players and not including bad ones. Even the hit players other club would have paid less.
Ramsdale – good for the price paid
Zinchenko – such player Arteta sells in less than 10M
Jesus – such player Arteta sell in less than 30M
Odegard – good for the price paid
B White – average for the price paid
Gabriel – good for the price paid
Trossard – OK for the price paid but we know actully he was targeting Mudryk and by desperation this transfer done
Gorginho – with this kind of contract situation Arteta would have sold him free
Parety – average for the price paid just see how much they will get by selling him
Kivior – ok for the price paid
Tomi – good for the price paid
Turner – good for the price paid
massive mistakes Willian, Runnarson, Maitland Niles, Mari, Cedric Soares , Leno – Martinez decision.
massively overpaid for Fabio Vieira.
Sold free homegrown Chambers, Same he may do for Holding.
Sold Laccazete free.
Matteo Guendouzi had market value around 40M they sold him less than 10M, they will give Pepe free.
One dimensional player Aubameyang instead of selling him for 40M+ gave him massive contract and then paid him to terminate contract.
Look recently how he devalued Kieran Tierney price by not playing him much even though Zinchenko needed to be substituted.
Remember how he does not give playing chance to Academy players. Example Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe he played them only with desperation (He was paying Willian after many failures) , Not naming Saliba in squad that year.
My point is that he massively overpay for other players, gets nothing for our players, does not give chance to Academy players on right time ( even in cup competitions). Instead of doing intelligent transfers he Even purchases every backup players in 50M+ prices.
For a long term Arsenal can not sustain this business model
On the face of it he would seem to currently offer Arsenal pretty much the same as Eddie…Although given his age and experience he could also have a higher ceiling.We have seen that Eddie can score goals in the EPL but at the same time we now know that he’s not a “game-changer” and he’s not really at the level that Arsenal need him to be.
This being the case I would like to see Arsenal take full advantage of Eddie’s current market value and sell him instead of Balogun who they should keep as backup.
It should also be noted that Balogun’s commercial value is about to rocket given that he will most likely be the face of the US World Cup given that he is now their main striker.
He’s better than Nketiah
He should be given the opportunity to prove himself. I think it’s wrong to not give him that opportunity
Interesting piece but shot through with the writers own opinion that he should stay, to which he is of course entitled to state.
Well he might and he might not stay, though the writer makes a good case for retaining him. I am content to leave the decison to the man who knows best,in MA.
BTW, Balogun was described in the piece as being both 20 and 22. The truth is he is 21 right now with his birthday next week making him 22.
6. Financial
With the WC coming in the States in 2026, and Balogun likely to be the starting ST and perhaps at that point our best player, shirt sales and merchandise are going to skyrocket not only for USMNT but for whichever club owns him (and w that comes more club fans in a country where soccer is rapidly growing in popularity). That for me offers even more financial incentive to keep him in hope that he reaches his potential. I like Eddie’s attitude and work ethic but much prefer to see Balogunner given a chance in N London.
We pay too much to Eddie. No club will pay him that much. Hard selling.
Massive overnight development in Rice Saga.
The Citizens finally table a bid in the region of £90 mill
£80 + £10 mill add on.
Arsenal had a £90 mill rejected.
£75 + 15 mill add on
The Citizens bid is slightly better, now all Arsenal have to do is match that if accepted.
There is a feeling the Citizens bid will be rejected though.
But I suspect this bid is merely testing the waters, man city shenanigans at play.
I think Arsenal has one more chance to present a winning bid. Three bids are the limit before you start looking as a fool putting too much time and efforts into a failed signature. On the other hand, I doubt that City will bid the WH asking price of 100 mill. in fees alone.
Its about time for Rice to open his mouth and stop playing WH’s music sheet.
Many supporters like to offer justifications when none are necessary. Saliba has been adequate for more than two seasons, Balogun outperformed Mbappe, who is also a young player, and If your good enough, you’re old enough. The administration, in my opinion, does not exude confidence, and we lacked squad depth last season. Most heavy hitters rarely pursue targets and return empty-handed; but, in Arsenal’s case, we always turn the situation into a drama and frequently lose the target we have been courting for millennia.