Folarin Balogun: Balogone

[bergholt]

If he turns out to be not world-class then he'll probably still get starts for the US, but wouldn't for England. Pretty simple pragmatic decision.

 

[North5]

We really should keep him.

 

[Trilly]

He would be an idiot to take England ahead of the US.

Exactly this isn’t France he’s rejecting.

 

[grange]

I don't think there will be pressure on him to be our savior. We are a pretty decent team who desperately need attackers and desperately need a striker. If he can make it out of group stages of the WC and beat Mexico from time to time then he'll be a legend. The bar is pretty low here. Lol

 

[El Duderino]

I don't think there will be pressure on him to be our savior. We are a pretty decent team who desperately need attackers and desperately need a striker. If he can make it out of group stages of the WC and beat Mexico from time to time then he'll be a legend. The bar is pretty low here. Lol

Find it super strange you guys and Mexico don't lobby to play the Copa America every tournament.

Would benefit both the Comenbol and Concacaf greatly, since we can't get a friendly with a top European NT because of the Nations League.

 

[HighburyHigh]

Keep Balogun and bin Nketiah

 

[grange]

Keep Balogun and bin Nketiah

That's what I hope happens. Balo would end up taking Jesus job eventually. Nketiah doesn't have that ceiling.

 

[Gooner Zig]

IF he were to leave, how much would be considered "fair value" for Balo? Are there any strikers his age (please don't come at me with Haaland ffs) that have done the business like he has in a top 5 league?

 

[Dokaka]

IF he were to leave, how much would be considered "fair value" for Balo? Are there any strikers his age (please don't come at me with Haaland ffs) that have done the business like he has in a top 5 league?

I know "Top 5 league" is technically true, but Ligue 1 is genuinely levels below the the 4 leagues above it. I do think Balogun has talent and demands a decent fee, but Lacazette is literally banging in almost a goal a game in the same league, and the ghost of Alexis Sanchez is sitting on 14 goals as well.

Given his age, I think £40-50m including addons is fair. Will be interesting to see whether he gets a chance for you lot or whether you cash in on his good form like you did with Willock.

Personally I'd love to see him get a chance, think he could be a very good option from the bench and a good rotational option for cups etc, but I obviously also understand the temptation of cashing in on what could be his all-time peak valuation.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Personally I'd love to see him get a chance, think he could be a very good option from the bench and a good rotational option for cups etc, but I obviously also understand the temptation of cashing in on what could be his all-time peak valuation.

£40-50m could be the difference between us getting one of Caicedo and Rice to being able to fund both. I know it's not as simple as that but it's a very real consideration given where we are in our squad development/build.

If we had just scrapped top 4 this year I would say we would be crazy to sell but given the season we've had and the fact that we are entering a window where we can realistically challenge for the title my personal opinion would be to cash in at his peak value.

 

[NZgunner]

the last on-loan player to come back after a good season was Saliba - so we should see what Balogun can now do in the EPL

I've only watched highlights, and as much as I hate to say it, he doesn't actually look all that amazing - definitely better than Nketia, but it would be a ridiculous gamble to expect him to lead the line and bang in 20+ goals, so I think we need to sell Jesus and Nketia to bring in someone with a consistent goal-scoring pedigree, and Balogun can back them up

if we do cash in on him to fund another level of player, it does leave us short on striking cover and probably means we'll be left frustrated seeing Nketia stink the place out

 

[scytheavatar]

Lacazette is having the time of his life in Ligue 1 right now........... put Nketiah in that league and I bet he would be outperforming Balogun. To a certain degree Nketiah has been a victim of Arteta wanting his strikers to be workhorses rather than goalscorers. If Balogun is forced to do donkey work we will be seeing a very different player from him.

 

[Hunta]

Sadly I think we will sell him. He isn’t coming back to sit on the bench after this experience and we’ll not loan him when we need money coming in.

The usual clowns on Twitter thinking we can get £50m will be in for a shock when we sell him for £20-25m.

 

[Black Noir]

Sadly I think we will sell him. He isn’t coming back to sit on the bench after this experience and we’ll not loan him when we need money coming in.

The usual clowns on Twitter thinking we can get £50m will be in for a shock when we sell him for £20-25m.

Nketiah needs to be sold a championship team of bottom half team Premier league team . He’s wasting space on that squad dreadful player. Balogun will probably go. I like him to go with buy back clause . should go for nothing less than 30 million plus with buy back clause

 

[Hunta]

20 ligue 1 goals should be his aim. He’s more than good enough.

I’m too good at this game.

 

[field442]

Nice that he got to the 20 goal mark. Should add a few more quid to the fee.

 

[MutableEarth]

Really don't like the idea of selling him personally but don't see Arteta giving him the game time.

 

[Hunta]

Off to Milan I think, rumours that they want Pulisic too.

£20-25m and we’ll sell.

 

[<<reed>>]

£20-25m and we’ll sell.

Chelsea sold the donkey Tammy for 40m.

Edu really deserves much more hate.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Congratulations to him on a very good season. Reins were awful in terms of creating chances and its almost a miracle that hes scored this many goals. I would like to keep him. It only make sense to sell if we want to finance a top midfielder who will bring the balance we're lacking. Balogun has a different game to our other strikers who haven't done what we need in terms of goals and don't look like improving in that department