Balogun goal for Reims today. 6th goal of the league season for him pic.twitter.com/vnaty7ffSw— Arsenal Guns (@TheArsenalGuns) October 2, 2022
For me, one of (the many) interesting take-aways from All or Nothing was seeing how much taller he was than most anyone else in the squad. If he's good with his feet, we could have a real keeper prospect.
that'd be nice. during preseason, they were talking on arseblog about how it's difficult to find a loan for young goalkeeper. it's good that he's performing now. it should make it easier to continue to find loans for him in future season.
At the other end of the loanee spectrum, AMN didn't do himself, Southampton, or AFC any favors with his performance on Saturday. Subbed off early, dispossessed 10 times, and no key passes, shots, or dribbles. It will be super frustrating if we don't get a reasonable fee for him based on offers we rejected in the past, and how little we played him during his time here.
Agree with @daedalus, I don't think he changes much in January. I don't see a role for him short terms with Jesus and Nketiah in the squad. If he continues to score at Reims, hopefully he can land a premier league loan deal next summer at a lower table club and prove he can succeed domestically. Then in summer 2024 you have a 27yo Jesus, 25yo Nketiah and 23yo Balogun. Does Jesus have a wondering eye for Madrid? Does Nketiah want to go somewhere to be the #1 striker? Or do they sell Balogun?
The reason I asked the question is because Balogun seems (at least to me) to be the kind of striker who could also play on the wing.
Per FBref he is averaging 34 touches per 90 minutes. That doesn’t strike me as really low on a team that averages 38 percent possession and currently sits in 17th place in France. My bigger concern would be about his passing.
Nice goal. Kinda Haaland-like. Even nicer is how Reims home kit matches Arsenal's just to make Flo feel at home.
seriously. when i saw the video, i had to double check to make sure it wasn't a highlight of when he was here.
some of the highlights in earlier matches showed some nice resemblances to some of the things gabe jesus is doing: popping up multiple places to receive and move the ball on, using his body to hold off defenders in spite of not being a particular physical specimen, making runs to attack in the box. if so, it'd be nice to be able to show him takes of what jesus does/can do and show him what he needs to do to help us/himself. oh, solid. that puts them at the higher end and does make his job easier. i wonder if they can get promoted and would want him for an extra year. there's apparently already considerations of extending balogun at reims if they can stay up.
trusty's day! maybe a loan within premier league or, failing that, ligue 1 next year? i know the original intention was perhaps him being showcased in europe with possibilities of being moved on but, if he keeps developing/playing well, maybe taking over for holding if holding decides to move on for playing time?
azeez playing and performing! he looks to be playing deeper than i thought he used to and not doing a terrible job at all. i mean, sure, he'd need more time at higher level to continue to grow but at least he's playing and performing well.
Think I read that we were trying Azeez in the "Partey" role with the u21s before we loaned him out. We have lots of MO/Xhaka types in the academy. Have to start finding/developing some deeper guys too.
I don't have super high hopes for Azeez since he is 20 and only playing in the second division of Spain, but in fairness Partey was playing the same league for Mallorca in his age 20 season. It's definitely a harder position to break in to than attacking mid or winger.
azeez is so weirdly hard to gauge. he battled injuries for so much time then had some weird loan spells that didn't work out. hopefully, that's turned the corner and he can have a couple of years of loans at progressive levels.
Patino is tearing it up on loan, saw a video where they said apparently we have an option to extend his contract by 2 years. You would think we either do that or look at 3 years on better terms.
supposedly, they are? i mean, they have the option to extend (though i think that has an expiration) but they are probably more likely to try to re-up, given how much attention he has drawn.
Seeing a couple really positive reviews of AMN's performance for Southampton against Bournemouth yesterday. It seems clear we don't have a home for him on our first team, but more positive play from him hopefully increases a transfer fee for him
his play honestly feels like a natural fit to slide into xhaka's role. one more year on loan in the premier league, one year as an alternate/cup 8 to xhaka, then moving in?