Highly sought after over the summer following a successful loan at Stade de Reims, Folarin Balogun made it clear he wanted to either play at Arsenal or be sold.
The latter occurred when it became clear Mikel Arteta wasn’t going to use him regularly this season, with AS Monaco forking out a €40m package with bonuses included to acquire the USA international.
However, since his arrival in the principality from Arsenal, the striker has failed to recapture his Reims form, finding the back of the net just four times in 16 appearances, as well as three assists, and Nice-Matin have an article on Friday trying to work out why that is the case.
They explain the player has ‘broken down’, like a car, since his transfer, and there is a need from Balogun to ‘simplify’ his approach, as he has had a tendency to ‘overcomplicate’ things at times.
One of the issues since his departure from Arsenal has been adapting to Monaco’s style of play, which is very different to what Reims were doing last season, as they are more attacking and there is less space for them to exploit.
In short, Balogun needs to reinvent himself a bit in order to succeed at his new club, where he has to make do with the competition of none other than Wissam Ben Yedder, who has long had the star striker role in the principality.
No mean feat, to say the least.
