Folarin Balogun (Out)

[AberGooner]

Has looked pretty ominous that he was leaving for months now. I feel we'd have tied him up long before now if we had any hope, especially when other teams can talk to him now.

We probably knew it was likely he was going as he didn't get starting opportunities in Europa, particularly the last 2-3 games when it was obvious we had won the group.

Shame, looks a talented player and has all the physical tools to be a special player. Wish him well, hope we are not looking back on a Gnabry like situation in the years to come.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

I think him leaving would be the best for his career, if he goes Germany and gets regular playing time it would serve him better than playing Europa and Carabao cup games.

We can’t be bleeding in youngsters in every position, it’s bad if we don’t get a transfer fee but again how much are people really gonna pay for him anyway?

 

[MikelHadADream]

Kind of respect Balogun for leaving to get regular game time. Too many young players at big clubs are happy to pick up wages and play the odd cup game.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Probably for the best because we should be signing a younger but ready striker next summer anyways which would mean he wouldnt have a clear path to the first team and he seems adamant that he wants to be playing games here and now and we just cannot guarantee that to someone so unproven no matter how much talent he has. You need a lot of game time to develop and to iron out flaws in your game and we don't have the luxury of being able to give him a run of games needed to do this. In an ideal world he'd have a few years in his contract and we could loan him for a couple of season to develop but this is the situation we're in now so have to deal with it.

 

[Goonger]

United and Liverpool seem to do a decent job, then on top of that get good fees when they sell. Dont think the issue from fans is just keeping the talent but getting good money for them even if the writing is on the wall.

There's 2 different arguments. Being able to integrate them into the team, which I don't think Liverpool or Utd have more than Arsenal currently, or selling at the right time & for good value, that I might agree with.

 

[Rimaal]

it is a shame, but chances are he'll live to regret his decision more than the club will

Be sure to tell that to Gnabry.

 

[Makingtrax]

Chelsea struggle massively with this.

Lukaku, DeBruyne, Salah, and most recently Lamptey. I'm sure there's more from other clubs.

Hard to believe that Mourinho thought De Bruyne, one of the most gifted players to grace Premiership, was ****.

On another note, watching some old clips of Colin Bell who died recently, he reminds me of the De Bruyne of his generation.

 

[al-Ustaadh]

There's 2 different arguments. Being able to integrate them into the team, which I don't think Liverpool or Utd have more than Arsenal currently, or selling at the right time & for good value, that I might agree with.

Agree it's two different arguments but they're connected in our case. I think a lot of the kerfuffle Arsenal fans make about these players has to do with our recent history of not getting anything in return for them if they do leave. Don't think fans would be making as big of a deal about Balogun, if say, we were selling him for 20 million Pounds instead of losing him on a free.

 

[Goonger]

Agree it's two different arguments but they're connected in our case. I think a lot of the kerfuffle Arsenal fans make about these players has to do with our recent history of not getting anything in return for them if they do leave. Don't think fans would be making as big of a deal about Balogun, if say, we were selling him for 20 million Pounds instead of losing him on a free.

The problem is players have a bit more power nowadays, & Sancho has set a precedent that going abroad can get you more immediate game time straight away.

Where do you stop? Look at Chelsea with Hudson-Odoi, they gave him what he wanted to fend of Bayern. He's now 20, on £120k a week, & still struggling for game time. Sure, they might be able to get a fee for him if they decide to sell, but Bayern will now have to pay him a hefty wage or he decides to drop. It's not easy at all to balance everything up.

I do agree about Liverpool, their transfer dealings both in & out has been brilliant, & a large part of why they are where they are.

 

[MutableEarth]

@MutableEarth right now.

I'm not that fussed to be honest . Ive long thought Balogun was leaving. As much as I think Balogun is talented, we aren't dying for him to breakthrough when we have other talented young strikers at the club. I'm also one of the only people that still rates Nketiah highly and its possible we will lose him too. Losing both would be a blow IMO but I think we can lose one of them and be fine.

It's a shame as Balogun is one of the best CF talents for a long while but his situation was a tough one from the start. He needs to play and with the bodies in front of him, I dont see him playing as much as we would like.

 

[al-Ustaadh]

The problem is players have a bit more power nowadays, & Sancho has set a precedent that going abroad can get you more immediate game time straight away.

Where do you stop? Look at Chelsea with Hudson-Odoi, they gave him what he wanted to fend of Bayern. He's now 20, on £120k a week, & still struggling for game time. Sure, they might be able to get a fee for him if they decide to sell, but Bayern will now have to pay him a hefty wage or he decides to drop. It's not easy at all to balance everything up.

This was all pre-Brexit though. I'm not sure how the labor and work permits have changed for English players going to EU clubs, since England isn't in the EU anymore. The reality is FAs and FIFA need to start putting caps on things - not a popular opinion, but it can help with competition between self-sustainable clubs and clubs that have open pockets via their owners.

 

[Mo Britain]

He's going to be amazing when he links up with Gnabry.

 

[dashsnow17]

Maybe I should be but i'm not as bothered about this as some others. Like yeah he could be a Gnabry, and if he is then that'd suck for sure, but there's really no way of knowing whether he is or isn't. The fans who actually watch the youth and know about him have a right to comment, but tbh i'd bet the majority of us here have barely watched him play actual football and are just going off pure vibes that he's a future star.

It's not like Saka last summer where he was a young player who'd played enough senior football for us to definitively know he's someone we need to keep at all costs. For me Balogun is still a closed box with a question mark on it, so it doesn't seem like something to get worked up over.

 

[Rasmi]

Young striker at Sunderland who bailed on them:
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...aga-negotiation-greedy-blame-money-league-one

Yeah I remember this. He moved to Ligue 1 instead of staying in league 1. Shameful

 

[dashsnow17]

He's going to be amazing when he links up with Gnabry.

You mean after Bayern buy him from Sven's Stuttgart, right?

 

[Mo Britain]

You mean after Bayern buy him from Sven's Stuttgart, right?

That's the way they normally operate.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

There's 2 different arguments. Being able to integrate them into the team, which I don't think Liverpool or Utd have more than Arsenal currently, or selling at the right time & for good value, that I might agree with.

Now is the time to sell Willock, Nketiah and maaaybe Reiss. Yet we wont again and they will cost little soon.

 

[Mo Britain]

If we don't sell Nketiah the summer will come round and it will be "oh wait! he's on the last year of his contract and can start talking to teams in six months" and we end up getting nothing or giving an extended contract on unwarranted terms for a player who doesn't look like he's making it here.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

Maybe I should be but i'm not as bothered about this as some others. Like yeah he could be a Gnabry, and if he is then that'd suck for sure, but there's really no way of knowing whether he is or isn't. The fans who actually watch the youth and know about him have a right to comment, but tbh i'd bet the majority of us here have barely watched him play actual football and are just going off pure vibes that he's a future star.

It's not like Saka last summer where he was a young player who'd played enough senior football for us to definitively know he's someone we need to keep at all costs. For me Balogun is still a closed box with a question mark on it, so it doesn't seem like something to get worked up over.

This is legit, however, the issue that remains for me, is that we gotta try and look at what's there first before just shipping our promising talents we developed their whole lifes.

We did exactly that with Saka and he's now probably approaching 100m when he's continuing a bit longer with that kind of performances.

We did the same with Nketiah, Willock and partly Reiss. The difference, we know that at least Willock and Nketiah will never be good enough and they are the ones to be shipped out ASAP or they will block further generations of talent.

 

[bingobob]

What i mean is the only meaningful change that came about because of Brexit is his now non-EU status. That means he falls under the category of a non-EU player. The rules for a German/French/Spanish club signing non-EU players didn't change with Brexit. From what i remember most EU countries don't have as strict rules for signing non-EU players (like we do for meeting a certain amount of points based on fee, international appearances etc), although some have squad limits.

I know a lot of South Americans will goto Portugal or Spain to qualify for a European passport. I might be wrong but I assume this is due to former colonies. It'll be interesting to see what happens as lot of young talent went to Germany in the recent past, its hard to see it being as easy for uncapped youth players with barely a senior appearance to do as they done before.