Folarin Balogun has been tipped to become one of the breakout stars of the 2021/2022 Premier League season.
The attacker started as Arsenal were beaten 2-0 by Brentford in their first Premier League game of this season.
He was in the lineup because Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette were ill and he didn’t take his chance by scoring a goal.
When both strikers return, he is expected to go back to the bench for the Gunners, but The Daily Mail has tipped him to become one of the youngsters who will shine at their clubs this season.
He got a taste of first-team football last season and scored a couple of goals for the club.
Arsenal has high hopes that he would transform his fine scoring record at youth level to the senior squad in this campaign.
The report claims he has the chance to take advantage of Arsenal’s current goal-scoring problems and make a name for himself.
They write: “The Gunners do have plenty of attacking options but none of them have staked a claim to be the club’s regular No 9 in recent seasons.
“Perhaps that explains why Arteta handed Balogun his first start for the club in Friday night’s season-opening defeat to Brentford. Balogun played an hour before being replaced by Bukayo Saka.
“Balogun, who was born in New York, is still only 20-years-old but there is definitely a chance for him to make his mark on a goal-shy Arsenal team.”
Well he will have to up his game from what I saw Friday night against an inferior opponent,mind you that applies to the whole team .
Chelsea next ,and looks like he will be starting again if both of the senior CFS are still out .
@Dan Kit
I like that “inferior opponent” part. Brentford had a game plan. They implemented it well and won 2-0…Now, who was the “inferior opponent”?
I know it’s going to be a difficult ask, NYG, but try being a little less obtuse…don’t be afraid to have a looksee at a dictionary, if you don’t understand what that means, as it really might make things infinitely better for everyone involved
Did not watch the game as on vacation, but already lost
interest in Balo as an arsenal player!! Sad state of affair..
you sound like a great supporter
When our league campaign was essentially over he should have got a decent amount of minutes, it was the perfect time to get some of the youngsters EPL experience.
With Arteta blatantly lying about Auba and Laca being “unwell” now he’s under massive pressure to perform.
In all fairness very few strikers, even experienced ones, would struggle to perform under our tactics. By the time our strikers get the ball, the opposition is fully set up to defend. Not to mention pointless, continuous crossing we see.
Hope he does well.
“Get the ball”, he didn’t. He had the fewest touches. Our tactics don’t get our strikers on the ball! If we have Messi upfront, it means nothing if he can’t get the ball! I did watch it and ESR chose to shoot instead of passing it to a wide-open Balogun. He came off having 0 chances to score.
Exactly right PJ our build up play is cumbersome and has no direction. Balogun could be a good striker but never under Artetas playing conditions. To be thrown in last Friday was just short sighted management.
we had no choice Reggie due to the last minute “ILLNESSES” wink, wink
Dont tell Arteta but Pepe has played striker but he knows what he is doing, its all in the plan.
I have high hopes of him but his performance on Friday was abysmal
You really can’t blame him, how was the service? We spent half the time passing around in our defensive third.
Buy some players, Stan! And hire Antonio Conte ASAP!
My first question would be:
What is Balogun going to break out of, the Emirates? Now that would be a smart move.
I am really worried about Rob Holding and why he is not playing.
If I were him I would put in a transfer request NOW.
Arsenal have bought Ben White for $50m with the intent of playing him alongside Gabriel.
I am pretty sure White will be earning a lot more than Holding, but, I think he is a far inferior defender to Rob.
I am almost positive Arteta bought him because he can supposedly make god passes out of the back. Sounds great, but isn’t his primary job is defending!!
If you read this Rob Holding I urge you to get out of the sinking Arsenal ship now!!!
I’m with you that Holding is a better defender. I think White has qualities, though, and his aerial weakness will necessitate either a formation change to accommodate him (as we have to justify paying so much for him), or he’ll be switched to another position. Either way I expect the door will be reopened for Holding.
Wouldn’t be shocked if Holding started against Chelsea tbh.
I really rate Balogun….BUT…..unless we change our robotic, sideways, backwards, sideways, sterile, non creative rubbish style of football, even if we had Mbappe, Neymar and Messi we would struggle. We are one of the least creative teams in the EPL and will bore the pants off our supporters. Arteta has to change the basis of our game from scratch.
Lets be realistic. If messi is 94 point striker, Balogun is like 65. No way in hell he will be star.
He’s a youth player! Get off FIFA and look at the real-world! He can do everything but needs development at senior level! He destroyed everything at youth level!
didnt do himself any favors, but i cant see how most strikers would thrive under this sideways type of football we play. theres a huge problem with our strikers and forwards players just standing stagnant when the ball is around them. they dont try to find space or anything. It’s like they want the ball directly at their feet, which makes it so easy for the opposition
There is no space, can you guys not see that?? We kill any space with slow build up, the whole team is back defending by the time we get the ball in tge box.
We also don’t press high anymore at all, so we never win the ball back high up.
What space do you want our strikers to run into? Behind the goals?
The players are not on board with Artetas tactics, they do not trust him.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed in the game against Brentford. It’s kinda weird and it may mean nothing.
When we are taking a goal-kick, at least two Brentford players were stationed right at the end of the penalty area. But, when they were taking the goal kick, our players were at least half a dozen yards away from the edge of their penalty area. I guess, Brentford players knew exactly what they were doing and they came up with a proper game plan on that day.
it begs the question what Arteta is exactly trying to achieve then PJ, and why nothing has changed over the summer with these problems. Spot on with the slow buildup too which is why Xhaka extension will be detrimental to our success. I expect Granit to sign, Arteta to be sacked, and next manager will have to deal with Xhaka as a deadwood player for the next few years and he’ll eat up wages. Same pattern we’ve been in for years and we keep falling for it. We need midfielders that think quicker for sure.
RSH its embarrassing the mistake and malpractices that go on and we never seem to click what a mess we are making. Rinse and repeat!
We struggle a lot against middle table teams and we struggle again against big 6 …. what’s happening to this club…if anyone has been watching our matches since last season u gonna notice that our strikers hardly involved in every Boll… they are not touching balls at all..so tell me how can them score goals…Arteta is not good enough
with these amateur hour tactics, we would struggle in a Father/Son game
Balogun is a good player but any striker will struggle under such negative tactics employed by MA and these tactics only suit Xhaka. Only sideways passing, no build up play to attack the opposition goal, no plan B if we are losing and no intention for creativity. At this rate the end of Arteta is inevitable.