Hello.
Let’s start this morning’s blog in France, where Folarin Balogun scored a hat-trick last night for Reims, propelling them to the top of the Ligue 1 goalscoring list. You can watch the goals on Arseblog News.
It’s been a good week for him. On Sunday he scored a late equalizer at PSG, the kind of goal anyone can score simply because of who he was against, and last night with his team down 2-0 he sparked a fantastic comeback. Think about former Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone, who was in goal for Lorient, but it’s all about the 21-year-old striker who sent in a penalty, a right foot volley and a super sweet left foot volley to get his first hat-trick in senior football.
That put him at 14 goals for the season, one more than Kylian Mbappe, and two ahead of a handful of players that includes Neymar (who is due to take time off for his annual party season soon) and former striker Alexandre Lacazette. . When you consider that Reims have scored 26 league goals this season, Balogun’s contribution looks even more impressive.
This loan is working in a big way, both for the player and for Arsenal. He was at a point where he had to play regularly to develop; the club needed to see what it could do in men’s football, playing against the seniors every week, and this is the answer. I think what makes this even more promising is that he is at a club that has settled in mid-table for a couple of years. They finished sixth in 2019-20, but have since finished 14th and 12th in the league.
If Balogun had gone on loan to a bigger club, maybe his playing time could have been affected, but the challenge then is to have a final product at a club that you play for more often but for which opportunity creation it’s a bit more limited. I have lost count of the number of highly rated Academy strikers who have gone on loan in similar circumstances, but have failed to score with the kind of frequency that gives the club something to think about. In those circumstances, it’s ‘Well, let’s see what we can get.’
Now, as we contemplate a future with Champions League football next season, and with our centre-forward situation still feeling a bit light, it looks like Arsenal will have a real decision to make by summer. Balogun signed a new contract before getting this loan, so there is protection in that sense. Playing in the Champions League requires a deeper and higher level team because you don’t rotate for that competition like you do for the Europa League. When Mikel Arteta talked about wanting his players to be able to go out and play every three days, this is exactly what he had in mind.
At this point, a very good argument can be made that he could give us more depth as a center forward. Another of Hale End’s, joining Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka as a first-team player. Scoring in Ligue 1 does not guarantee success in the Premier League, but scoring for a team like Reims and taking responsibility from the start bodes well. When you think about what you might need to spend on a young striker of commensurate quality to grow the team, it would leave a lot of money free to bolster other areas of the team.
On the other hand, and I don’t want to piss on anyone’s chips here, this is the kind of loan the club could turn into pure profit. There were whispers of interest from both Milan clubs in January, but you can be sure his goal will have attracted the attention of many clubs in England and Europe. It means that the type of offers you receive will give you something to think about. Clubs will not bid for a player with potential, but for a player who has shown he can do it in one of the top five leagues in Europe. I’m not saying we should sell, by the way, but his performances this season open doors and potential income for Arsenal. That is the reality, but the romantic idea of him coming back and being here is ideal, without a doubt.
Elsewhere in Ligue 1, Nuno Tavares is having a very good season for Marseille. He never felt right at left back for this team, but he is thriving in a system that gives him less defensive responsibility. I don’t think he’s coming back to become a square peg in a round hole again, but playing well this season should mean Arsenal will, at the very least, break even on a player they bought for £7m. You’d like to think we could make some gains, but we’ve yet to see the kind of improvements in the way we sell to match most of our recent recruiting. In that sense, it will be an important summer for Edu.
I also saw some quotes from Albert Sambi Lokonga after his move to Palace, where he talked about how important it was to have the trust of Patrick Vieira. I think those were pretty pointy. Not in a bad way, but you don’t leave a club like Arsenal right now, flying high at the top of the Premier League, if you have the manager’s confidence. I think that’s the main reason why he left. If it plays well and holds its value in the market, it would be a great by-product of this loan, but I don’t think we loaned it out for that reason, if that makes sense.
I hope he does well there, and it’s quite interesting to think about him in the context of our search for Moisés Caicedo. I saw a lot of people ask ‘Why don’t Arsenal make transfers like Brighton etc.’ but both Lokonga and Tavares were attempts at that type of transfer – a young player with potential who could become the first team. The difficulty they have is that they are almost always the second option at a club like Arsenal, while at other clubs they play more regularly. Caicedo, let’s not forget, was bought by Brighton and immediately loaned out.
It’s a bit crazy to think that the Ecuadorian has just one more Premier League appearance than Lokonga, but this season his 1,608 minutes dwarfs the Belgian’s 195. Which is not to say that Sambi will be the next Caicedo or anything like that. but playing time is very important and hopefully he has plenty at Palace and once again Arsenal can benefit from that come summer.
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Right, that’s your lot for this morning. On Patreon we have an episode of Statements for you, where I talk to Paul from the Arsenal Vision Podcast. Look at that here.
We’ll be back tomorrow with more, including a new Arsecast. Until then.
