Mikel Arteta quizzed on Folarin Balogun future

The player in question is Folarin Balogun, who has made 10 appearances for the Gunners’ senior side, scoring two goals in the process.

After struggling for regular minutes in the first half of 2021/22, Balogun was shipped out on loan to Championship side Middlesbrough in January.

Balogun did not have the best spell in the North East, scoring three and assisting three in 21. But he was hampered by then-Boro boss Chris Wilder’s constant changing of his front line.

2022/23, though, saw Balogun loaned to Stade Reims for the full campaign. During his time in France, the 21-year-old has scored 20 and assisted three in 35 Ligue 1 outings.

Despite his excellent campaign last time out and a lack of goals from their current strikers, it appears the Gunners would prefer to part ways with the American this summer.

Arsenal are understood to have turned down a bid for Balogun recently, but when asked about this in his pre-Nottingham Forest press conference, Mikel Arteta was coy:

“I cannot talk about internal things here, sorry,” the Spaniard stated.

When asked about how he will pick who starts up front vs Nottingham Forest in Gabriel Jesus’ absence in his press conference, Mikel Arteta said: “A lot. First of all, how they train. The state they are in and the feeling I have with them. How they react to certain decisions is really important as well. Then building relationships regarding the opponents qualities and setup that can empower our qualities to help us win the game.”

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