Can Folarin Balogun hold down a starting spot up front?
Can Arsenal young gun Folarin Balogun hold down a starting spot up front?
Before Saturday’s game against Brentford, the one thing most people thought Arsenal didn’t need was another striker.
In Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli, and Eddie Nketiah, the Gunners have the firepower needed to compete at the highest level.
However, fans were shocked to find that Aubameyang and Lacazette were both left out of Mikel Arteta’s squad to face the Bees, with academy prospect Folarin Balogun leading the line in their stead.
Ever since, the papers have been filled with rumours that one of the two forwards could be on the verge of a move to Barcelona.
Gary Neville added further fuel to that fire by saying that he thought there was something there and that the problems with the two players may run deeper than we know.
Arsenal would no doubt get over the departure of either player.
However, it would mark a horrendous start to the season and affectively kill any remaining enthusiasm for the campaign ahead.
Their departures would present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to Balogun, who is being tipped as a potential breakout star this season after some impressive performances in the Europa League last season.
What are his strengths?
Balogun has an impressive record for Arsenal’s Under-23s.
Last season the 20-year-old England youth international scored nine goals in 18 appearances after a breakout 2019/20 season, which saw him bag ten goals in 15 appearances.
In short, he knows where the goal is, but there is much more to his game than his goal return.
He can stretch defences with his pace and his ability to play off the shoulder of the last defender.
Despite his impressive goal return, the New York-born youngster isn’t a poacher.
In fact, he is similar to Aubameyang in the sense that he is at home in wider channels as he is in front of the goal.
He is right-footed but is perfectly capable of finishing with his left and has impressive strength and agility for such a young striker.
Perhaps most excitingly is he has the same mindset as many of Arsenal’s academy products over the past two years.
He’s not afraid to take the ball under pressure or take on opposition defenders in tight spaces.
Arsenal fans should be excited by the prospect of seeing Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, and Balogun working together to start a new era at The Emirates.
What are his weaknesses?
Firstly, Balogun is inexperienced and did struggle to displace Nketiah from the under-23 squad.
While that doesn’t mean he won’t be good enough to displace him in the first-team squad, it does suggest that he’s not yet ready to replace international superstars like Aubameyang and Lacazette.
He is a fantastic athlete, which isn’t a weakness, but it is often the case that players who dominate their opponents using their strength and speed at youth level can struggle to adjust to playing in the senior side.
Finally, it’s a serious risk to replace such experienced and talismanic figures with a player who has made just one Premier League appearance in his career.
Can he hold down a starting spot up front?
How many times is this going to happen before someone at the club puts their foot down?
The Kroenke’s are surely capable of realising that Arsenal haven’t entered a Premier League season prepared for the campaign in well over a decade.
This is just the next chapter in what seems to be a never-ending story of calamitous administration and management at The Emirates.
Balogun will play for Arsenal one day, you can be confident of that.
However, If we throw him in too soon and without the experience around him, it will repeat Rob Holding, Callum Chambers, and countless other young Arsenal players who were asked too much too soon.
