The recent contract extension by Arsenal of England youngster, Folarin Balogun has set bolts of excitement running through the veins of the club’s coach, Mikel Arteta and the technical director, Edu, as both ex-players of The Gunners admitted how thrilled they are with the development.
In reaction to Arsenal’s official confirmation of the new deal, Edu went on to note how versatile Balogun has been with the London-based English Premier League club’s youth team, while Arteta acknowledged that the Nigerian-born lad has been knocking eagerly on the door of the main squad.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Arteta and Edu are now looking forwarded to an even bigger impact at Emirates Stadium from the 19-year-old Balogun, who signed a new long-term deal last week, as his previous contract was set to run out this summer.
The new deal comes in recognition of how Balogun has been impressive for Arsenal’s under-23 squad this season, with eight goals and two assists in 16 games, before which he starred for The Gunners’ under-18 team and was outstanding in their title-winning season, with 25 goals in 19 starts, including two hat-tricks and a quadruple.
Balogun, who was born in New York, USA, also made his debut with Arsenal’s first team this season and has scored twice in six appearances for the senior side, with both goals coming in the UEFA Europa League group stage, away at Molde and Dundalk.
Eulogies continue flowing from various angles for the youngster, who has represented England and USA at under-18 level, but is still eligible to play for Nigeria at senior level, with Edu and Arteta now adding their voices to the rain of accolades, while also admitting that they are happy seeing the lad commit his future to their ambitions at Emirates Stadium.
Edu said: “It’s great that Flo will continue to be with us. He is a very promising young talent and has already shown so much quality in his performances. We are all looking forward to working with him during his continued development in the coming years.”
Arteta added: “We have been extremely impressed with Flo this season. He has continually shown his natural ability in many training sessions with us and we have been equally impressed with his early integration into the first-team squad on matchdays.
“He has given us glimpses with the performances and of course with his two goals already for the first team. The hard work starts here for Flo and we are all looking forward to supporting and working with him in the years to come.”
