Folarin Balogun suggests Arsenal transfer decision took place behind Mikel Arteta's back
Folarin Balogun left Arsenal for Monaco over the summer, having impressed on loan in Ligue 1 with Reims last season, and has now opened up about the big-money move
Former Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun has indicated his summer move to Monaco came because of what "people higher up" wanted to do, having held productive conversations with manager Mikel Arteta before his exit.
Balogun thrived on loan at Reims last season, scoring 21 times in Ligue 1 for Will Still's side. His form in France saw some Arsenal fans begin clamouring for the United States international to get a first-team chance in North London, but instead he completed a £34million move to Monaco in August.
Arsenal included a 17.5 percent sell-on clause in the deal, and Balogun has recovered from missing two penalties in one match to help his new team climb to the top of the table going into the international break. His former employers are also flying high, with 20 points from eight Premier League games, and the 22-year-old doesn't appear to blame Arteta for his exit.
"He [Arteta] didn't really say much [after Balogun returned from Reims], he just said that when I came back he just said well done, and he encouraged me to keep going," Balogun told ESPN. "Then me coming back in a preseason, it was just more about me seeing whether I fit into his plans and seeing if I can continue to play some games.
"He said that he would try to get me involved as best as he could, but of course he also told me that the people higher up were making decisions on me and seeing what would be best for me. So the conversations between me and him were good, but it was more about the club, what they wanted to do.
"It was out of my hands, that's how I felt. It wasn't something I could control. The only thing I could do was just turn up to train and work hard. So I did that"
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With Balogun no longer in North London, questions are being asked about Arsenal's longer-term plans in attack. Brentford striker Ivan Toney has made noises about a potential January move away from his current club, and Arsenal looks like a good fit for the England international.
"The Toney links won't go away because it's blatantly obvious for everyone to see that with that focal point, and that player that scores – that takes you somewhere else," former Arsenal star Ian Wright said on the Stick to Football podcast. "You can't question the endeavour of Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus, but you look back at the Tottenham game, with a player of his calibre to get into that position, to be 1-0 up, against Tottenham in a North London Derby, you have to bury those chances.
"I believe that Arsenal, in what we're trying to do now, the margins are so small, you cannot afford to be missing chances like that and not winning those games. What I'm seeing with Eddie, he's working his socks off, no chances are really being made for him, his work off the ball is fantastic, but the [Ivan] Toney links won't go away because you can see that's the last bit, for me, in the jigsaw."
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