Folarin Balogun is expected to leave this summer. The 21-year-old isn’t assured to be Arteta’s first-choice striker. If he stays at the Emirates, he may be relegated to the bench. With a desire to retain the momentum he established last season on loan at Stade de Reims, where he scored 21 goals in 37 league games, he will likely leave on a permanent basis since, as he revealed a few weeks ago, a loan exit is not an option.
Selling Balogun may be viewed as a risky move, but the beauty of his departure is that it may generate significant revenue for Arsenal.
If Arteta and Edu want to make money off of Balogun, they should be careful who they sell him to.
Balogun should not be sold to a direct rival.
According GiveMeSport, Crystal Palace are keen to buy him, but it would break their record transfer fee.
They also say that Inter Milan, Monaco, Marseille, Leipzig, AC Milan are also considering the situation.
But the Daily Mail reports that Chelsea is in talks with Balogun’s entourage about him joining them. Chelsea can certainly afford him, but they are one of the teams Arsenal should not sell to. We don’t need another Van Persie to Manchester United-like deal for Balogun’s exit.
At best, Balogun should be moved to “indirect opponents” like Marseille or Inter Milan, both of which both are mentioned in the Mail article. Recent happenings have suggested that Edu and Arteta are aware that Balogun joining a fellow Premier League club could be bad news, as if not, they could have easily included the USMNT striker in Rice’s deal, given that West Ham, apart from Chelsea, is one of the many EPL teams that have expressed an interest in the Arsenal forward.
Arsenal may be convinced they need to sell Balogun, but they need to be picky about who they sell him to, as they do not want to weaponize their rivals.
Daniel O
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