Arsenal travel to the Netherlands later today, and Mikel Arteta will give a pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game with PSV. We’ll have all the details on Arseblog News later, and tomorrow we’ll preview the game properly on the blog.
For today, a quick look at some of the players on loan this season, starting with Folarin Balogun, who is doing very well at Reims. Considering the team he plays for is sitting 14th, and they aren’t exactly the best chance-makers in the league, having scored 7 goals and given 1 assist in 12 games is very good for a player in his second season as a player. ‘senior’ professional. He has scored more than Lionel Messi… so far… and a couple of weeks ago Reims outshot PSG 24-11 in a 0-0 draw, but when you play for a mid-table team, you have to be efficient and Balogun is doing that.
Speaking to the BBC this week, he said:
“Before I came here, I received a lot of advice that this would be a good league to develop. Now that I’m here, I see the benefits of this league and I’m happy to be able to help the team.”
It’s a case of so far, so good for the 21-year-old. You want them to play when they come out, and you want them to perform for the team they’re playing for. Arsenal have loaned out countless young strikers over the years, and I think you can count the true success stories on the fingers of one hand. There is still a long way to go between now and May, but if he continues like this he will return to Arsenal ready to start knocking on the door in earnest.
On the other hand, Charlie Patino is doing well in the Championship with Blackpool. Having started brilliantly, he got injured, but recovered well and played 90 minutes in the last 6 games (and 89 minutes in the previous one). He also scored a goal in their 4-2 win over arch-rivals Preston North End, and the way Blackpool fans sing about him speaks volumes about how he is viewed there.
???? Blackpool fans loving Charlie Patino ????
???? This is Charlie Patino, I knew where to go, Even though I had never seen, The boys from Tangerine, I felt it everywhere, I was breathing the sea air, And then he told me, I hate PNE!
???? @TvTangerine
pic.twitter.com/yqCtdDiito
— The #EFL Zone (@TheFLZone) October 23, 2022
He said afterwards:
“It is my first derby in professional football. I played in the Under-21s for Arsenal against Tottenham on many occasions, but it wasn’t really for the three points, it was more of a development phase.
“Coming here and playing a Lancashire derby is an amazing feeling. It’s always good to get the three points, that’s the main thing, but contributing a goal and an assist and doing it in front of the home crowd at Bloomfield Road was incredible.”
Charlie turned 19 last week, and when we saw him for Arsenal last season, you could see there was obvious talent, but physically he had to grow. A year he spent breaking through in the U23 might have drawn attention, but by no means would it have been as beneficial as playing big, strong men every week. The championship is tough, but so is the Premier League, as we saw on Sunday when Southampton’s WWE-affiliated defenders put his talent on display.
Blackpool are currently 18th in the 24-team league, and are still tight enough that a few successive wins will propel them up the table, but one or two poor results would mean a real fight when it comes to second place. half of the season. Either way, he’s playing football in an environment where every game matters, every tackle matters, where people’s livelihoods are at stake and that’s so far removed from the youth level that it’s chalk and cheese. This is where the real development happens, so like Balogun, let’s hope he can keep it up.
Ultimately, he couldn’t play us on Sunday because the rules don’t allow it, but Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ time at Southampton isn’t going particularly well. He has made just 4 appearances, starting just twice, for a total of 246 minutes. For a guy who is now 25 years old, he has reached a kind of plateau and now he needs to consider very carefully what comes next.
He was loaned out to Serie A last season, and it wasn’t very good. He has no minutes in the Premier League, even for a team that has struggled this season. Last week he spoke to the official Southampton website and suggested it was due to the fact that manager Ralph Hassenhuttl needed him to catch up more with his methods, saying:
“It’s just about what position he plays me and the team dynamic at the time. There are different roles that I can play in the team and he just wants me to fully learn them, and I’ve been doing that recently. And he is showing more confidence in me by putting me on the field.”
But Ainsley Maitland-Niles isn’t a wit, he’s a guy with close to 200 senior appearances, including one England cap. Southampton do nothing that is so radically different that a player who has already shown genuine versatility at Arsenal needs months and months to recover. In football you never know, you might be presented with an opportunity that he grabs with both hands, and I hope that’s the case, but right now it’s not hard to be a little worried about how things are going for him.
Ok, let’s leave it there for this morning. Have a good.
