Arsenal of England youth team player, Folarin Balogun has received fresh assurances about his future potential and prospects at Emirates Stadium, as The Gunners’ coach, Mikel Arteta is singing praises galore for the Nigerian-born lad, megasportsarena.com reports.
So soon after hailing Balogun’s impact in training, which fetched the lad a spot in the main team’s roster for Thursday’s UEFA Europa League fixture, Arteta is reeling lyrical once more about the youngster, and expressed strong desire to have him around much longer.
Following his impressive performances, Balogun played his first game for Arsenal’s first team, with 14 minutes of action in their 3-0 Europa League defeat of Dundalk then made the North Londoners’ outfit’s cut for Thursday’s trip to Norway.
With Balogun’s current deal bound to expire at the end of the season, he has already been linked with a move away from Emirates Stadium, but Arteta expatiated why he wants the youngster to remain a Gunners as the club.
Consequently, The Gunners’ former captain and Spanish legend stated great regard for the Arsenal academy graduate and assured that officials at the London-based club will try to convince the 19-year-old lad to sign a new contract.
Arteta declared: “He is a player that I want to stay at the club. I love working with young players. You can see the talent is there, the ambition is there and he can fit with our structure and progress in the future.
“He’s part of the DNA and myself and the club are working to try to extend his contract. We’re trying to change the situation that we are in at the moment with him, and trying to convince him that this is the right place for him.
“The moment that I started to see more of the player and change certain things that I didn’t agree with, we decided to give it a go, tried to convince the player, try to show him what we want to do with him, why he fits in with what we are trying to do at the club.”
