Kevin Campbell admits that Folarin Balogun’s future career appears to be away from Arsenal Football Club.
The Gunners have so far been able to tie the young forward down to a new contract, despite the 19 year-old making his senior debut for the club this season in the Europa League and League Cup.
Balogun made an impression when stepping up into the first-team, but still finds himself behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah in the pecking order, and it is likely that he would want assurances over playing time in order to stay beyond the summer.
The striker recently caused a stir by removing all of his pictured from his Instagram profile, with some claiming that he has removed all of his ties with Arsenal altogether, and former Gunner Kevin Campbell claims that this is yet another sign that he will be leaving come the summer.
“It looks increasingly likely he will leave in the summer,” Kevin Campbell told the FootballInsider.
“If you start removing everything associated with Arsenal from your social media… Listen, it does not bode well does it.
“It doesn’t look like he will be part of Arsenal moving forward which would be a shame because he is a very talented young man.”
Could Balogun’s recent Instagram actions mean anything else?
Patrick
According to some reports I’ve seen, he wants 40k… surely not?!!
Martinelli is on 90k and Nketiah is on 45k. Arsenal have form for overpaying promising young players who haven’t established themselves
90k!? The multiple sources I read said it was 30k up from 10k when he first signed 🤔
That’s crazy money, Trudeau. Once Saka signed his new deal and went from 3k – 30k a week, I just assumed all the lads around his age were on roughly the same amount.
I’d be more than happy with 3k a week 😂
I’ve just read we’ve made a contract offer to Taylor-Hart, as Balogun is set to leave….
As an ‘unfinished’ but future ‘hopeful’, this lad needs to be more graceful AND grateful for the opportunity to look forward to playing for Arsenal (or any other big club) for many years to come.
Money-grabbing at such a junior level is not a good or attractive trait. Steve Allen,
I don’t care how much he wants……..We can spend days counting the youngsters that deserve a first team place and it still won’t be enough. I’ve watched him play but if you all remember this was the same way Eddie was hyped and know he seems to have fizzled out. I like Balogun and I think the best he can do right now is to bide his time because its clear that if you’re patient and you’re performing you’ll get your chance. Compared to other teams Arsenal gives their youngsters a fair chance. Balogun has to be patient
Trevor, lets cut to the chase and ask how many young people do you know who have patience? In the modern instant gratification world ALMOST all young people have never learned patience from their own life experience.
In poorer countries culture it is very different but in western culture, self entitlement is rife among young people and that includes MOST though not all, young players.
Unfortunately there is a lot of truth in your statement Jon. I think there is the added complexity of the modern day agents.
What I mean is the agents are so focused on getting their cut that they fill some youngsters heads with visions of grandeur. Perhaps Balogun is hearing he is “deserving” of starts, or high wages, extra attention, etc….
When the reality is he is a young developing player, mostly unproven who is better served at a club to help him develop without the pressure of a spotlight.
A loan spell would be ideal for the player and for us as Arsenal fans; however this does not serve the agent, and unfortunately kids listen to these people who tell them what they want to hear.
I’m not positive at all about retaining Balogun, and feel he is off this Summer. Clearly a talented player and his contract should have been addressed before the final year.
This is all about bad timing…this kid comes into the most crucial time period in his young career and all of a sudden Arsenal goes through 3 managerial changes in less than 3 years, so he probably received a lot of lip service during that time….his agent can’t possibly be pushing to break the bank for no reason, as the same agency represents Eddie and Saka, so they’re well-aware of what would be considered reasonable from a wage bill perspective…this goes well beyond the pure economic realities of this situation, as this player has been with the club since the age of 8…let’s face it, we still haven’t properly addressed the youth development and man management problems that occurred during Wenger’s last decade at the club
Jon what do u mean by poorer country, as long as football is concern in this modern era, they are all after the money undermining weather they are young or old, the agent he’s ain’t doing something wrong for telling them to go for the cash because bills has To be paid, the problem here is not the money but loyalty and arsenal has never shown that in any regards, they have to start keeping to their words cause we are just in the middle of the saga, look at dotmund for instance, they have up to 5 of the best young kids n they make alot out of them them, that use to be the DNA of arsenal, all that gone along side arsene wenger, if we are keeping them we should invest on them, if we are not we should stop loosing them for free cus all of this are now becoming a pattern
I fully support his decision to find greener pastures in another club for his progress and career development. We have to accept that we have failed to offer anything tangible for him to hang on to. Its best that we let him conquer other territories. His best years are well ahead of him. This young lad needs playtime and better pay as his value appreciates day by day. He is a fine lad with some exceptional skills and therefore, he deserves a chance to showcase his potential in an enabling environment. He is better off playing for a lower tier club like QPR, or Cardiff than play for us. It will work out well for him as a young player and also enhance his career development from one stage to the next.
A lot of players good enough to have professional careers are not good enough for the Premier League in general, or Arsenal more specifically. Here are a dirty dozen, undermined by bad timing, injury, or quality issues.
A couple of trens to note – three players who play in a position long identified as a need for the Gunners (defensive midfield) are on this list… Hmmmm.
1. Serge Gnabry – a combination of injury, he waso ut for a year after his debut, bad timing, Theo Walcott scored 19 and assisted 11 during Gnabry’s next season with the club, and illegal interference from Bayern Munich, which saw Gnabry move to Werder Bremen for a season before signing for Bayern, getting loaned out, and now starring for the German side; had him leave Arsenal before he was fully developed.
2. Emiliano Martinez – Some hurt more than others. Martinez is one that hurts. He waited a decade for his chance, proved himself as good as or better than Bernd Leno, and was rewarded with… well, he was not rewarded at all. Moved to Aston Villa, currently a place higher in the table than Arsenal
3. Donyell Malen – PSV Eindhoven’s solid scorer just never got a chance at the Emirates. As if often the case with forwards, the team needs goals now and replacing a proven scorer like Giroud, Lacazette, or Aubameyang with a young player is risky business.
4. Ismael Bennacer – playing really well in a position that was long identified as a need for the gunners, the defensive midfielder has emerged as A.C, Milan’s go-to holding midfield player
5. Isaac Hayden has had a nice career at defensive midfield for Newcastle United, but could not break into the Arsenal first team.
6. Chuba Akpom is playing for Middlesbrough after emerging as a potential first team player at Olympiacos – good player with all the tools, but just not quite Premier League quality.
7. Jeff Reine Adelaide – Left Arsenal after a promising youth career to play for Angers, then Nice, and now Lyon. Curently injured, but an impactful player for three seasons after leaving London.
8. Semi Ajayi – Currently a regular for West Brom, never made a senior appearance for the Gunners. Went to Cardiff, went on loan, played at Rotherham, but is now a member of West Brom’s starting XI.
9. Josh Dasilva – Left Arsenal for Brentford in 2018 and is currently a solid member of the team, playing in 30 of a possible 44 league games. Recently scored a hat trick.
10. Glen Kamara – Left Arsenal in 2017 for Dundee, then moved to Rangers where he is the ‘Gers starting defensive midfielder. He has played 27 times for the Finland national team.
11. Oguzhan Ozyakup – made a handful of senior appearances for Arsenal in the League Cup then moved to Besiktas, where he is a star. He is also a regular Turkish national side contributor.
12. Chuks Aneke – Currently a valuable squad player and occasional starter for Charlton in League 1, has 12 gals and one assist for his side.
A bonus player – Krystian Bielik – signed a long term deal with Derby County after a number of loans.
These players may or may not have succeeded if given a genuine chance at Arsenal, but a handful have clearly carved out a career in the first team of top-level clubs. Gnabry, Maren, Bennacer, and Martinez are all players the Gunner’s hierarchy have to be looking at as ‘ones they missed’ due to timing or immediate need.
The rest just go to prove that not succeeding at Arsenal hardly means they are not good, or even very good players. Good luck to them.
Let us also hope that the Gunner’s management does better with the current crop of potential stars like Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Folarin Baloggun, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Zech Medley, Trae Cyole, Matt Smith, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Tyreece John-Jules, Harry Clarke.