Arsenal's academy product set to become Monaco's most expensive player

Arsenal and Folarin Balogun were clearly doomed to never ’click’. The good student of the Gunners youth school will probably never get a real chance in the jersey of his home club. Arsenal all but finished his transfer to Monaco last night and thus concluded the story of the future of the talented striker at the Emirates. Balogun is a New York-born child of Nigerian immigrants. He moved to London at the age of two and started training at Arsenal at the age of eight, which he has now left for good after 15 years at the club. He went through all the junior selections of the London club, entered the first team and made his debut for it as a teenager.

Young Gunner chooses USA over Nigeria and England

At that time, he almost left Arsenal as a free agent because he felt that he was not offered a fair chance and perspective. Nevertheless, he believed in a better tomorrow, signed a professional contract and stayed. He spent another half year in the first team and then went on loan to Middlesbrough in the second part of the season. He didn't do anything special there, so he was sent on a new loan last summer. To French Reims. And there he exploded. France proved to be a hit, and Balogun scored 21 first league goals for the season and was the revelation of the Ligue 1. His price skyrocketed, Milan, Inter, West Ham, Leipzig, Union Berlin, Eintracht, and Monchengladbach wanted him this summer... Arsenal was able to take advantage of a successful loan in France and set a price of 50,000,000 euros. Although he seemed to need a striker with Balogun's characteristics, Mikel Arteta did not want to give the American international a real chance. On his part, the player was sick of seeing only the bench at the Emirates and demanded to either play or to be sold. We'll see if this decision costs Arsenal in the future.

The race for Balogun's signature is underway: Monaco vs Inter Milan

For now, the Gunners will only benefit from such a fee, not only because it’s a great sum for the youngster, but also because it will look great against the Financial Fair Play rules since he is coming from the academy and his sale is counted only in a profit column. None of the aforementioned clubs was ready to pay the asking price, but Monaco was. The wealthy French club watched Balogun last season and saw his capacity. When the first striker Breel Embolo, suffered a serious knee injury recently, they had no choice but to go all out for Balogun. The offer of 45,000,000 plus bonuses was enough for the Gunners, and the transfer was agreed upon. Balogun will sign a five-year contract in the coming days and become the most expensive signing in the history of Monaco.

LIGUE 1 MATCHDAY 3

Friday

22:00 (4.90)Nantes (3.60) AS Monaco (1.75)

Saturday

18:00 (1.53) Marseille (4.40) Brest (6.75)

22:00 (1.55) Paris Saint-Germain (4.10) Lens (6.00)

Sunday

14:00 (1.45) Rennes (4.70) Le Havre (8.00)

16:00 (1.90) Clermont (3.50) Metz (4.10)

16:00 (2.45) Montpellier (3.50) Reims (3.00)

16:00 (2.25) Strasbourg (3.50) Toulouse (3.35)

18:05 (4.00) Lorient (3.60) Lille (2.00)

21:45 (2.25)Nice (3.60) Lyon (3.30)

***odds are subject to change