British media reported that Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun has recovered after missing the first two rounds of the 2023/24 Premier League due to injury. However, he was among the seven Arsenal players who were not trained by coach Mikel Arteta with the first team.
According to Sportmole, the seven players mentioned above include Balogun, Kieran Tierney, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Nuno Tavares, Rob Holding, Nicolas Pepe and Cedric Soares. The very remarkable move of coach Arteta is a sign that it seems that his students have suddenly been removed from the first team with no future at Arsenal.
This group of players actually has no shortage of options when there are a number of teams that have expressed their desire to cooperate with them. For example, BLD Brighton is looking to recruit Sambi Lokonga to replace Moises Caicedo, a midfielder who recently moved to Chelsea for £115 million.
For his part, Tavares has caught the eye of Nottingham Forest, while some teams in Saudi Arabia are paying special attention to Pepe. Back to Balogun, it is reported that this 21-year-old American striker is being pursued by both Chelsea, Fulham and Monaco. Although still very young, but Balogun is being offered by Arsenal for up to 40 million pounds.
In the summer of 2023, the representative of the North of London spent more than 200 million pounds to bring back the Emirates famous rookies such as Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber. In the opposite direction, the Gunners sold Granit Xhaka to Leverkusen, while the couple Matt Turner and Auston Trusty were also allowed to leave Arsenal to switch to Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United, respectively.
In the context that the transfer market is only a few days away from closing, Arsenal are still trying to find a defender to strengthen the defense. The reason is because rookie Timber just got injured in the first round of the Premier League 2023/24 and had to take a long-term break.