Arsenal justified in £34m striker transfer decision as Mikel Arteta faces four-player pick
Arsenal decided to accept Monaco’s offer for Folarin Balogun following lengthy negotiations, receiving a fee which could rise to €40million (£34million) with a 17.5 per cent sell-on clause, football.london understands. It was a decision which not every supporter was on board with as the American international’s stock had grown considerably following a loan with Stade Reims in which he scored 22 goals in 39 games across all competitions.
Mikel Arteta was happy to allow Balogun to leave with the deal making the club pure profit having been developed in the academy and also several existing centre-forward options at his disposal. That said, despite the presence of Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard the side has struggled to score as frequently and consistently as they did last season.
So the question remains therefore whether it was indeed the right choice. Looking at Balogun’s time at his new club Monaco and he has so far failedto recreate the scoring heights that he achieved with Reims. He has four goals in all competitions this season from 17 matches but has also chipped in with five assists.
Compared to Eddie Nketiah who was effectively favoured over Balogun although the interest in the American certainly made it easier for the club to make the call, the now England international has six goals and five assists from 28 matches. Yes, Nketiah has played more games than Balogun but that does not tell the full story.
Balogun is starting more games than his former teammate and according to Transfermarkt has played 1106 minutes of football compared to Nketiah’s 1276 despite featuring in 11 more games. This is the context needed perhaps to get an understanding of the decision the club made.
At Monaco,
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