When Arsenal agreed to loan Folarin Balogun to Stade de Reims for the season, no one could have predicted how well the young striker was going to play.
As things stand, the 21-year-old is the top scorer in Ligue 1 with 15 goals in 22 games, ahead of the likes of Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi.
Whether that continues remains to be seen, but Arsenal will be chuffed with the results, especially when they are reportedly looking around for a new striker.
A very improved Balogun would allow the Gunners to spend money elsewhere, and he could provide good competition for the likes Gabriel Jesus or Eddie Nketiah, if he sticks around.
That’s why it seems rather unlikely that Arsenal would agree to sell him to a club like Marseille, who have been named as an interested party for his services.
This is what Jean Charles de Bono told Football Club de Marseille when asked about the Balogun stories.
He said: “Top scorer in the French league. 15 goals with Reims. It means that Arsenal are watching him very carefully. I would have liked him to come to OM. I had mentioned it at the beginning of the year, but today, I think it’s impossible unless the player has a real desire to stay in France and come to OM. It will also depend on Arsenal.”
