Mikel Arteta now completes major Folarin Balogun transfer decision
Amidst rumors over his future with the Gunners, Folarin Balogun was not selected to start for Arsenal in their preseason friendly match against Barcelona.
After a successful loan stint at Stade de Reims in the previous campaign, the star of the United States national team has been linked with a move away from north London in the summer. In his rookie season in Ligue 1, Balogun scored 21 goals, which helped him garner a lot of interest from teams.
football.london has been informed that Inter Milan is interested in acquiring his services. Although the Italian team has not yet made their initial offer for Balogun, rumours in Italy claim that they are preparing a season-long loan offer with an obligatory fee in order to compete for the player.
football.london has it on good authority that Balogun is up for grabs if the proper offer is made, with some sources indicating that the Gunners place a £50 million price tag on the USMNT international player.
In the past week, Balogun has seen action in matches against FC Nurnberg and the MLS All-Stars, and as a result, his status with the club has been called into question. After the team’s 2-0 loss to Manchester United on Saturday, Arteta put him on the bench for the match, and on Monday, the 22-year-old practiced separately from the rest of his teammates.
Balogun was a part of the group when they did their early warm ups and stretches, but when the rest of the squad walked off to complete drills with the ball, he went back into the dressing room and then emerged to do shuttle runs with a fitness coach on his own.
Before it was confirmed that he would not be allowed to play, the striker did share a video on his Instagram account that showed the SoFi Stadium. It is not obvious, however, why he was excluded from this discussion in the first place.
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Mikel Arteta now completes major Folarin Balogun transfer decision