Players go out on loan to develop and show why they should be considered to return and feature for their parent club. Arsenal’s star out on loan, Folarin Balogun, is the one who has really taken his chances.
The 21-year-old has emerged as the finest striker the French league has to offer, as in 26 league games for Stade de Reims, he has managed 16 goals and 1 assist. His goalscoring ability has seen him rank third in Ligue 1’s top scorer’s charts this season behind Kylian Mbappe and Jonathan David; notably, he has more goals than Neymar and Messi.
These incredible stats have the Arsenal star emerging as an in-demand striker as far as the transfer window, with Football Insider back in February claiming, “One source said Arsenal expect “half the Premier League” to be bidding for Balogun this summer, with a return overseas for the youngster deemed less of a possibility.”
So will Arsenal take advantage of the chance they have to raise some cash from Balogun, or will they retain him and hope to reap big rewards from his sharpness in front of goal?
As per Football Transfers, Mikel Arteta doesn’t even think about cashing in on Balogun; what he is thinking about is whether to retain him or once again take him out on loan next season. Comparing Balogun’s case to that of Saliba, Football Transfer writes, “Arteta has already shown in the past that he is prepared to be patient with young players by sending them out on loan until he feels they are ready to make the step up at Arsenal.
“That has been exemplified by centre-back William Saliba, who spent three separate loan spells in Ligue 1 with Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Marseille…
“He is ready to adopt a similar approach with Balogun, although the final decision as to whether the player returns to Arsenal for 2023/24 or remains at Reims will only be made at the end of the season.”
Arsenal may have the desire to add an attacker this summer; to do so, they may just save millions by putting their trust in Balogun.
Personally I think Arteta will wait until seeing him in action in pre-season before deciding.
What do you think?
Sam P
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Extend the kid loan as he hone his skills set, but he could also brought to a premier league say Aston Villa to be toughen up.
Balogun is the future of Arsenal and should not be sold. He has proven that he can score week in week out in an inferior league, but when it comes to the physicality of the English leagues he has so far failed to make the grade.
I don’t think loaning him out in France or any other league next season would make any sense. He needs to learn to come up against no nonsense, physical centerbacks in the Premier league.
But I completely understand him not wanting to play second fiddle. He’s earned it
I think Balogun will compete with Jesus next season and Nketiah will be offered to other clubs, unless there is a very good offer for Balogun
I think if Baiogun hits up to 20 League goals or more for his Ligue 1 loan club side Reims this season. It will show that Baiogun’s footbal is now at a top quality level to be taken seriously. And be considered by Arteta for his inclusion to his team squad for next season’s campaign. Moreso if his performance in the next Arsenal pre-season games is convincing that he’s now at the top level of the game in terms of high numbers of goals scored. And he’s ready to step it up for Arsenal in competitive games next season.
If Balogim does as I’ve enumerated above, I think Arteta will surely keeps him for Arsenal’s next season’s summer campaign. And maybe not sign one of the Osimhens next summer transfer window.
A lot of teams look to the French league to buy defenders, including English teams. Same for the forwards. So it bodes well for Balogun that he be flying high with the wealth of talent that comes from Ligue 1. Our own CB pairing came from France, we have some great history with acquiring players from that playing region
Extend his contract and loan him to West ham as part of a deal for Rice. He can stay in London and get premier League experience (as long as they don’t get relegated this season), West ham need a striker, and arsenal get Rice, so everyone wins.
Why on earth would anyone suggest he is loaned out or even sold to a Premier league team? The current highest scorer in the French Ligue 1 helping a possible rival team, forget it. Anyone who’s seen the recent video on YouTube of him out on loan in France and what he says about his love for Arsenal shows he doesn’t want to go anywhere else and we know Arteta sent him there for a reason. His current manager, Will Still is also raving about him as are French fans, they adore him. He’s a top talent who surely we want to keep.
Sell him for a record fee. He’s not going to want to be backup here and rightfully so. You need players that are fine with their role in the squad, and Balogun throughout his youth career has always pushed very hard to be in the first team, and get a lot of playing time which wont be guarenteed with Jesus,Eddie, and Trossard all competing for that spot too.
Also, lets look at reality, us fans want players like Rice and Caicedo to come to the club. That means we need to sell players for sizeable profits. Sell him while the iron is hot. We can’t keep everyone and we can get great value for Balogun.
Also need to ask if Balogun fits into our style of play. from what I’ve seen he’s a fox in the box/poacher style of player kind of like Eddie, but very minimal ability to link up play, when I’ve watched him in youth his passing has never been anything notable either… Think a lot of us are getting too carried away by his goal tally and think that is enough to make him good enough for Arsenal. In my opinion he’s still developing, but his reputation is high enough that many EPL sides would pay good money and take a chance on him. At Arsenal, he’d be lucky to be 2nd choice.