Folarin Balogun

There’s certainly some truth to what you’ve said. Starting Balogun in a couple of dead rubber games in the Europa League is more my line of thinking.

Balogun didn’t need to be an elite prospect in my eyes. He just needed to be better than Nketiah. From the 60 minutes of action he got in the Europa League (limited, I know) he displayed a better awareness of his teammates than Eddie ever has.

3 Likes

Yeah. Regarding Eddie, I just think he’s another Afobe, Akpom type of talent/potential… Maybe works out better but for me he seems to be on the border between a Championship and Premier league player.

Only seen minutes of Balogun, but he seems different. I’d love it if he could get Eddie’s minutes.

1 Like

Balogun gang you know?

2 Likes
1 Like

Instead starting that clown Nketiah over him

2 Likes

Yeah, Eddie should stick to PL2 :+1:

4 Likes

No idea if true, but wouldn’t be surprised.

Can’t knock him really as that’s where I’d be looking too.

Ffs :xhaka:

I said good luck to him a few of posts back. My dominant feeling now is that I hope Balogun doesn’t turn into another Gnabry where his success shines a light on Arsenal’s failings. I could do without that.

Yeah, English talents running their contracts down and going to Germany is a pattern at this point.

Balogun has been difficult his entire career. He dragged his heels on signing his first professional contract instead of just signing at 17 like most young players coming out of the academy. And he has been refusing to sign a new contract for over a year now.

We could have handled the situation better, giving him some more playing time in the Europa League, but it takes two to tango and it seems pretty clear that he was always intent on forcing an exit if he didn’t get what he wanted. But its not clear what he actually wanted or whether we could or should have give it to him. Would he have been content if he had started a few Europa League matches? Not necessarily. Its a hard situation as you don’t want to lose young talents but you also can’t allow 19-year-old kids to bully the club and dictate your selection choices.

5 Likes

Good luck to him. But I’d bench him the rest of the season. Wouldn’t play him at any level and definitely wouldn’t put him on the first team bench. Pre-contract agreement signed means he’s out the door, so no need to do anything for him now.

A bit bitter? Yes. Tired of seeing it. The youngsters who think they can bully a club can piss off. It’ll always be 50/50 if they make it abroad. Germany is a good place to go, but he could’ve gone another way. Arsenal also need to start getting contracts done earlier and maybe set something up for loan deals to German clubs for youngster, possibly even 2 year loan deals with a recall option in year 2. Don’t know the solution, but it’s getting ridiculous. I’m not keen on championship loans.

3 Likes

The club has every single right to bench him from now, but I don’t like to use the word “bully” here.

If we say the kid bully the club, didn’t the club (or our great manager) bully him by not giving him enough play time as well?

If he doesn’t see any future here, why can’t he choose another club that he may have more playing time?

Arsenal cannot escape the blame here.

1 Like

Not giving him game time isn’t necessarily bullying though.
Loads of players don’t get games and move on.

1 Like

if he thinks he deserves it, but not getting it in a reasonable way (like some players don’t deserve but keep getting unreasonable amount of playing time)… if it is not favoritism, then it is bullying for me; IF, signing a pre-contract with another club means bullying the club.

Ever since Sancho lit it up for Dortmund, this was inevitable. Combined with every club not named Bayern being a selling club. Playing in a league where you actually play and can move to a bigger club just makes sense.

Bullying is a nonsense term, the club and player couldn’t agree terms, that’s all.

9 Likes

I don’t get this bullying narrative, why should a young player not see whether they’re getting minutes invested in them before deciding whether to commit their future?

Why shouldn’t younger players back themselves to go and get game time and actual development elsewhere instead of taking the easy money? Not sure why these kind of instances are routinely seen through the eyes of the club tbh, if they did a better job then it wouldn’t come to this simple as that.

4 Likes

Won’t find a club on the planet were a player doesn’t feel aggrieved mate.
There’s plenty of youngsters in or around the squad.
Up too him who he chooses. As ever he falls or prospers on selection. The pisser on this one probably rests more on the club in the contract situation.

He needs to earn it like Saka, Martinelli, ESR, Willock, AMN did.
We can’t allow youngsters to dictate terms.
Imagine Nelson did that during his hype years, we would have been cursing ourself for giving him a bigger contract than he deserves.

Can’t disagree of what you said, but it is just like @RockyMaivia said, 2 parties cannot reach the agreement and that’s it.
No bullying involved.

It is not like he refused to train or to play to force a transfer.
He does not see the future here, and within the allowed rules and regulations he signed a pre-contract with other team, what did he do wrong?

1 Like