The future of striker Folarin Balogun has attracted special media attention since the 2023 summer transfer market opened. And recently, journalist Fabrizio Romano turned on the keyword “Here we go” in this deal, saying that Arsenal had decided to sell Balogun to Monaco.
Folarin Balogun was born in 2001, in the US, to Nigerian parents and moved with his family to the UK since childhood. The player joined Arsenal’s Hale End academy at the age of eight. Balogun played for The Gunners’ youth lines before being promoted to the first team in the 2020/21 season.
However, Balogun has no land to perform at Emirates. In January 2022, this player was loaned to Middlesbrough by Arsenal but did not play very well. By August 2022, he was again loaned out and this time the destination was Reims.
It seemed that Folarin’s talent would soon fade away, but in France, this striker has completely changed. Last season, in Ligue 1 alone, the US national player played 37 matches with a total of 3,017 minutes, scored 21 goals, and provided 2 assists.
Under young coach Will Still, Balogun often played a central role in 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2 or 4-3-1-2 systems. The strongest point of this player is the ability to finish cold and diverse.
Of the 21 goals scored, 14 were with the right foot, five were from the left foot, and two were with the head. In addition, in every 90 minutes, he has 0.9 dribbles, creating 1.0 key pass.
Balogun’s limitation lies in the passing of the ball (accuracy rate is only 72%), often making offside errors and providing poor defensive support from afar. These are the issues that this player needs to improve on.
The lack of effective long-range defensive support made him lose more or less points in the eyes of coach Mikel Arteta. The Spanish military leader always requires his students, even strikers, to actively press and operate at high intensity. In this respect, Folarin is inferior to Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard or Eddie Nketiah.
Although many big teams like Chelsea, AC Milan or Inter Milan are closely interested, in the end, Balogun’s landing is somewhat more modest, that is Monaco, with a price of about 40 million euros.
Monaco started Ligue 1 2023/24 quite impressively with 2 wins and 1 draw. Under the new coach Adi Hutter, the Principality team often operated a 3-4-2-1 system, in which Wissam Ben Yedder was Always the first choice in the center position.
Therefore, it is likely that Mr. Hutter will arrange Balogun to play as a back striker, or pair with Ben Yedder if Monaco switches to operating a two-forward frame.