Arsenal news: Folarin Balogun is not playing for the Gunners in their pre-season match with Monaco in the Emirates Cup as transfer talk continues to surround him.
Arsenal and USMNT striker Folarin Balogun was once more left out of Mikel Arteta’s squad in pre-season as he didn’t even make the bench against Monaco in the Emirates Cup clash.
It is the second time in a row that the 22-year-old has missed out entirely for the Gunners this summerafter also being out for the 5-3 win over Barcelona last week.
With the return of the Premier League on the horizon, Arsenal have just two games left in the next ten days before they host Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium on August 12 and time is running out for Balogun to force his way into his coach’s selection.
Balogun was also an unused substitute in the 2-0 loss to Manchester United during the tour of America and hasn’t played since July 20, when he came off the bench to feature against an MLS All-Stars XI in Washington.
It comes at a time that Balogun’s future at Arsenal is far from certain. He has been given the green light to leave the club,football.londonunderstands, but a £50million ($64m) price tag has so far put a stop to any agreement being reached.
Most recently, an offer came in from Inter for a ɾєρօɾτed one-year loan with an obligation to buy that would bring Arsenal £35million ($44m) overall. That was turned down by the Gunners and Inter have now turned to other options instead.
It has since been said that Balogun and his camp have requested that Arsenal lower their valuation in order to open up a potential exit.Having made his breakthɾօυɢҺ on loan at Stade de Reims last season in Ligue 1 he is now trying to continue his development but that has been hampered so far.
Speaking in USA last week, Arteta explained that an ιɴjυɾу had been keeping him out of the side. “He was unavailable,” Arteta said. “He has a little foot ιɴjυɾу and hasn’t been training with us.”
The boss was coy on what Balogun would have to do in order to force a way into contention too. “We will see,” he replied. “First of all, he needs to be fit and play minutes.”
With just Manchester City in the Community Shield to come for Arsenal after the game with Monaco on Wednesday, Balogun has fallen even further behind. Instead, fellow Hale єɴԀ academy graduate Eddie Nketiah got the nod up front with Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe either side of him.
Summer signing Kai Havertz was left on the bench with Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. Gabriel Jesus is out of the game with a knee ιɴjυɾу that is being assessed.
