After an impressive season with the under-23s, Folarin Balogun could be on his way out of Arsenal after not agreeing to renew the contract, according to reports from The Athletic.
What has impressed the youngster the most in recent years is how much he is a natural scorer. In and around the box, he has proven that he can stay calm and choose the right finish when given the time, but also that his instinctive finish is just as good, if not better.
Balogun has proven this especially in the team’s last three games – in which he scored five goals – before the lockdown. His double against Manchester City consisted of a sharp turn in the penalty area before hitting the ball home with his weaker left foot. His second goal was a quiet right-footed shot from the ball into the lower corner when he entered the box with only the goalkeeper to be hit. Against Monaco, he went one step further with an ice-cold chip in added time to secure the Gunners a 4: 3 comeback victory.
The young striker’s talent is out of the question, but if the Gunners unloaded him, they would have good reason to choose.
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It looks like Mikel Arteta has three young striking options ahead of Balogun, which makes his chances of joining the first team and playing consistently rather slim.
The past 12 months have not been as originally planned for Eddie Nketiah, but this has benefited all parties. On his return from his disappointing loan at Leeds United [where he started just two league games]The 21-year-old wasted no time in gaining Arteta’s trust.
His training approach in January convinced the head coach to keep him in the club, and in February he rightly usurped Alexandre Lacazette as the club’s first choice striker. During this time, he has massively improved his all-round game, as he faces the challenge of playing with his back to the goal and pressing the opposing backline head-on, which Arteta will look for with all his strikers.
“Eddie since I joined, the maturity and personality he plays [with in] Very game is incredible. I ask the strikers a lot to put pressure on their opponents and they did it. Many of the goals we score are due to the mistakes we make on the opponent, “said Arteta to Nketiah’s recent goal in Southampton.
“In this heat it is sometimes not nice to track and pressurize players, but when you score a goal and the mistakes you make.” [Southampton] done that could have led to a few other goals, it’s really important. It creates belief in what they do and pays the price a bit for the effort it does. “
With Nketiah making such a strong claim to Arsenal’s first-choice striker, Gabriel Martinelli is the next youngster to come into the game. Although he’s currently injured for the rest of the season, as of Football.London and spent most of the 2019/20 season playing left. He can also play through the middle and has proven that he is ready to do a striker’s defense job.
Balogun’s most direct source of the competition, however, is U23 striker Tyreece John-Jules, who has continued to develop and come closer to the first team image.
John-Jules is a rounder player, if you look closely at what they offer on the pitch. In the first half of the season, when John-Jules was still at Arsenal, he often played as No. 10 on Steve Bould’s side. If he fell lower, he associated the game well with the responsibility to score goals that he scored. In the 2018/19 season, he scored six goals in Premier League 2 in 17 games, but five in 12 games [while playing deeper at times] in 2019/20.
It is also important that Arteta named John-Jules twice before borrowing on the Arsenal bench and almost replaced him with Leeds before he was loaned to Lincoln: “The other night, so close [gestures with his fingers that he was very close to bringing John-Jules on]”Said Arteta Football.London after the Leeds game.
Although the loan ended prematurely, it was another step in the right direction when he made his professional debut, scored his first professional goal and was used in more roles at the front, the Arsenal head coach noted.
“I think he can do both [play as a lone striker and in a partnership]. When he was with us I was impressed with him, his understanding of the game, how he connects with the people around him, how powerful he is. It has a goal in itself, “said Arteta Football.London March.
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With so much direct competition to get into the first team, Arsenal shouldn’t be too surprised not to secure Balogun’s future. Yes, he is extremely talented and his goals have caught the attention of all fans who focus on the U23. Do you have to compete with three contemporaries and then also with senior executives, where it would fit in the first team picture nearby?
However, the only mistake the Gunners have to avoid is letting Balogun go without a chance of getting him back in the future. Too often, the club has let youths go to their full potential and kick themselves because there is no option to bring them back.
Serge Gnabry, Ismael Bennacer, Donyell Malen and Jeff Reine-Adelaide are examples of the error in the judgment. A buyback clause is essential if Arsenal is to leave the 18-year-old this summer.
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