Mikel Arteta has the solution to his playing time problem at Folarin Balogun thanks to Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez.
Another day has passed and Folarin Balogun’s future at Arsenal doesn’t look any clearer. His one-minute miss against Manchester United raised many questions, although Mikel Arteta put the situation into context and suggested he would need a few minutes against Barcelona on Thursday.
“We also had options in attack and we wanted to use certain players,” he said after the 2-0 loss to Manchester United. “That’s why some players were unlucky today, but they will be lucky in the next game.”
The debate over the forward situation continues, with Balogun apparently trailing Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah. It was somewhat surprising to see such a lack of opportunity presented to Balogun, who only got 70 minutes of action in three games and didn’t play against United at all, as claimed.
This compares with the 179 minutes allotted to Arteta Nketiah. The Arsenal number 14 has talent, there’s no denying it and his goals last season were invaluable in the absence of Gabriel Jesus, but the introduction of Leandro Trossard at centre-forward has brought about greater yield in the striker as a collective and a winning streak.
Balogun has shown consistency in France with 21 Ligue 1 goals in 37 games, better than 1 for 2. However, this hasn’t given him enough to push his way into Arteta’s summer plans.
If they are looking for title rivals Manchester City, they have both Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez. While the Norwegian is easily first choice and in almost every game Man City plays, Pep Guardiola has managed to find his balance and also give his Argentine star plenty of playing time.
He helps Alvarez who can also play in wide areas in addition to being a centre-forward. In all competitions, Alvarez scored 2524 minutes in 49 games, just over 600 minutes fewer than Balogun in his 39 games.
While Balogun is much more of a specific centre-forward than Alvarez, Gabriel Jesus is not. Jesus can act comfortably in many areas and has proven himself in club and country.
Therefore, Balogun and Jesus could still play minutes together and play together next season. Bukayo Saka could get the well-deserved rest he deserves if Jesus plays the right role and Balogun plays the main role.
However, all of this is only possible without the presence of Nketiah, who of course is currently the biggest obstacle to Balogun’s future. There are few signs of Nketiah leaving and Arsenal are likely to receive a hefty commission from any sale of the United States international, more than if they sold Nketiah, who the manager seems to value more.
