Arsenal of England youngster, Folarin Balogun has received a strong and terse piece of advice to leave The Gunners, since he has not been able to play himself into the main team, due to the presence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lcazette.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, with all three strikers rated well ahead of Balogun on the perking order at Emirates Stadium, the Nigerian-born lad has been counseled to move on by The Gunners’ former hitman, Benik Afobe.
While speculation continues over Balogun’s future with the London-based side heading into the summer, Afobe has urged the youngster to leave Emirates Stadium, as he is not within range of Mikel Arteta’s pecking order of attackers.
The youngster, who was born in United States of America joined Arsenal at the age of eight and, though he has soared through the ranks in record time, he is yet to cement his place in the main squad and was conspicuously absent from the squad that was beaten 2-0 by Manchester City in the English Premier League 2 on Friday.
While Balogun is in the final four months of his contract with the north London club and it is believed talks on a new deal have stalled, this Monday will make it two months he last played for Arsenal’s first team, which was against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.
Though Balogun has impressed whenever called upon to the first team, with a goal involvement of three in 61 minutes of UEFA Europa League action, Afobe posited that the lad is facing the same dilemma he had during his time at Arsenal, who did not give him an opportunity to make his English Premier League debut before moving on in 2015.
Afobe told The Beautiful Game Podcast: “Balogun, he’s good, I’ve seen him play. I think it’s the right decision for him to leave. It all depends on your positioning and who’s ahead of you…
“The captain [Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang] is a number nine, the other number nine is top goalscorer this season, Lacazette, and Eddie Nketiah is a couple of years older than him and has also done well.
“If you want to keep waiting for your chance, before you know it you’re 23, and teams, managers will start picking up players who are more experienced, instead of the guy from Arsenal who has played for England Under-19’s. That’s kind of what’s happened to me as well.”
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