Arsenal academy player Folarin Balogun has refused to sign a new contract with the Arsenal; his representative feels the terms are not suitable for his client and he is willing to run down his current contract and move on as a free transfer.
However, Arsenal’s boss Mikel Arteta is keen to see the player stay, but he is worried over his chances of getting first-team football. A price tag of £8 million has been placed on him, but they are also willing to sell him this summer rather than loss him on a free transfer.
His contract runs out at the end of the 2020/2021 season, and the club want to prevent any loss on such a talented player.
Championship playoff runner up Brentford is thought to be after the 19-year-old striker. However, the asking price set by Arsenal is considered too high by the club which had earlier seen a £5 million bid rejected by the Arsenal board in January.
Folarin the goal scoring youngster
Folarin Jerry Balogun joined Arsenal at the age of 10 after the young lad played at a tryout match. He played in the U-18 and scored goals for fun in his 28 matched with 28 goals, playing as the central striker in the team that won the Premier League U-18 title, he was instantly promoted to the U-23 squad where has made 15 appearances and scored ten goals in the Premier League 2. Folarin has mentioned Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his role model, while the captain has since made encouraging comments about the player. He is blessed with a fantastic pace and has good close control of the ball.
Balogun has not made a final decision on the country he wants to represent in the future; he played for England and the USA at the U-18 level with 3 and 2 goals respectively for the teams. The New York-born is also eligible to play for Nigeria as his parents are Nigerian.
Arsenal in recent times, has seen some of its academy products move on from the club after contract negotiation stall; the most recent example is winger Xavier Amaechi who opted to join the German club Hamburg for an initial fee of £2.25 plus ad-on and a percentage on future sales.
Arsenal still feels they have enough young talented players as cover who play in a similar position, but will be looking to agree on a similar deal as Xavier with any club who is willing to buy the talented striker rather than loss him on a free.
