Fabrizio Romano has claimed that he expects news to emerge on the future of Folarin Balogun ‘in the coming days’, with Arsenal still keen to tie him down to a new deal.
The forward is claimed to still hold a strong relationship with the club which he loves, but his agent has supposedly shown resistance to his client signing a new deal, with both Eddie Nketiah and Balogun both vying for minutes in the same role, and both under the same agency the Elite Project Group Ltd.
Folarin is yet to start a senior match for our side, but has impressed coming off the bench in the Europa League this term.
Fans no doubt want to see more minutes for their young future star, but the club needs to sort out the 19 year-old’s future before we are likely to see him feature again.
In The Know journalist Fabrizio Romano reiterates that the player just wants to play football, and that we should expect to find out more on what his future will hold over the coming days.
Fabrizio told his Here We Go Podcast: “Balogun wants to play. He only wants to play. If he’s going to play, there’s chances for Arsenal,” he said.
“But if he’s not going to play, then there are chances for other clubs. He’s in a good relationship with the club cause he loves Arsenal. I think in the coming days we will understand more on his future. Keep an eye on Bundesliga. Some German clubs are really interested but not RB Leipzig.”
Balogun can talk to clubs overseas over a potential free transfer at the end of the season once he enters into the final six months of his playing contract.
Do fans hold Balogun in higher regard than Nketiah?
Patrick
If he signs a new deal then he has to be straight into the 1st team set up and Eddie will probably have to go on loan or possibly sold with a buy back clause as Arsenal rate Nketiah.
Tough spot for the kid but if he looks at Saka who was in the same boat with Liverpool hovering around with 6months or so left on his deal not too long ago before signing a new deal and got his chance for showing his commitment to the club and Mikel.
Grass isnt always greener but if he leaves then so be it.
well said.it all depends on him and we will live with what he decides.i hope he stays
If we bit the bullet and stopped selecting Nketiah we could keep Balogun. Nketiah has scored plenty in the under 23s etc but has had lots of wasted chances in the EPl while Bologun has had none.
Just another case of blood sucking agent destabilising young player and negatively influencing club negotiation. These parasites should be banned from football as right now they are more like human traffickers than football agents.
I agree with you completely, many of them suck. Heartless nincompoops that feed from the talent and sweat of others, why they are allowed to do that is beyond me.
👍 👍 Only interested in maximising his cut of a new contract.
Agree wholeheartedly Ackshay.The leeches of our game continue their insidious practices and the governing bodies of our sport continue to ignore their manipulative , money grabbing actions.They line their pockets while grass roots football is dying on its feet.
👍 It would be great if the richer clubs would invest in the grass roots to ensure maintenance of the player pipeline.
Sadly Nketiah is just bog standard, nothing special and he is wasting Arsenal’s, his and our time at this level. Folarin Balogan is a potential Andy Cole and scoring. If we can’t satisfy him some minutes then the club is Donald Ducked. Balogun is a much better prospect than Nketiah.
Eddie has just 1 year left in the summer – it is plain to see he is not quite good enough. He’s had chances in the team and hasn’t taken them. Time to sell him/move him on to make space for the next batch. Same with AMN, Willock and Nelson. They just have to be ruthless – they will all making a living but not at Arsenal.
It wasn’t so long ago we were chanting ‘Eddie! Eddie!” and demanding he played. Now he hits a rough patch and we abandon him for the next wunderkind off the conveyor belt. We demand loyalty from players and give nothing back.
Nketiahs’ record at youth levels and for England’s u23 side is excellent. Similar to Balogun’s at the same age. Kicking on in the transition period of 18-22 is tricky, it’s a big step up and it can dent the confidence. We don’t know how Balogun will adapt to playing against men instead of boys. Dundalk, Molde, these are not top teams. His cameo against Man City was promising, but that doesn’t mean he is not another Akpom, Mavididi, Afobe, Ansah, Sunu, Barazite, Lupoli, Stokes, Smith, Owusu-Abeyie (f*** I feel old). They looked fantastic until they had to beat a defence full of grown men, then they looked like nothing.
I suspect that Balogun is looking at Saka, a player he came up with, thinks he’s just as good and doesn’t understand why he isn’t also playing. But there seems to be one key difference in his mindset when compared to all the other kids. When they are interviewed after their debuts they all say the same things. They are humble, they talk about working hard and hope for more chances. Saka talked about going back to the youth levels and waiting for his next opportunity. There is patience and appreciation, gratitude towards management and the coaching staff. Balogun described it as something he ‘deserved’.
There have been many kids at other clubs that have had an attitude that has derailed their careers. Bags of talent, but an unearned arrogance to go with it. Balogun similarly seems to have this kind of personality instead of the hard-working one we see from the kids that make it.
I hope I’m wrong about him, I hope he signs and breaks Henry’s scoring record. But I’m not going to treat him like he’s Saka or Nketiah when he hasn’t earned it.
We’re talking about an impressionable 19 year old who has been devoted to football from age eight, to the exclusion of all else. Unfortunately it appears that his agent is in a position of power to manipulate him and make it difficult for counter arguments to get through.
I really want Balogan to stay. He can be the perfect understudy to PEA.
Do not want to see our academy prospects leaving.
We have already let 2 homegrown talents (both goalkeepers leave in the last 2 windows which I do not agree with).
Don’t think it will happen though. Hope I am wrong.
I cannot bring to mind a single Gooner post who thinks Nketiah a better player than Balogun. But very many posts on here have said exactly the opposite and that is my view too.
It seems clear to most of us the skinny, easily bowled over, Eddie has a very long way to go to be Arsenal standard but that young, far more dynamic and taller BALOGUN IS WELL ON THE WAY TO DOING SO.
No real comparison therefore. Eddie to leave and Balogun to stay. Hope this proves true!
For me it’s quite cleaar. Of course we don’t KNOW that Balogun will become a great player, although he has huge potential. But more importantly we KNOW that Nketiah won’t ever be more than average if he’s lucky. So no contest. Supposedly a big stumbling block is that he wants guaranteed playing time to sign, which no sensible club can agree to. But if Nkentiah was removed from the picture via loan or sale, I don’t believe we would need to make that firm promise because he knows he would get that time, being higher up the pecking order.
Spot on Jon and Guy.