2022-23 - Arsenal Players on Loan

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by CarlosKaiser, Sep 2, 2022.

  1. CarlosKaiser

    CarlosKaiser Member+

    Arsenal
    United States
    Jul 30, 2018
    Kansas City
    Saliba played for a club that had the 2nd most possession in Ligue 1, so he was gaining experience in a system roughly similar to Arsenal, where he would be on the ball, making progressive passes, and trying to snuff out counter attacks. Not exactly the same, OM used a back 3 often, but close enough.

    Reims are 3rd to last in possession, so I assume they play a lot on the counter. Arsenal had another player who racked up a ton of goals in France playing on the counter - Pepe. So I'm not convinced what Balogun is doing now will for sure translate.

    My preference this summer would be to sign him to a new contract thru 2027 as a reward and then find him a new loan, either at a top level club abroad to see how he plays in a ball dominant squad, or to a PL club to see how he fares against PL competition.
     
  2. DaPrince84

    DaPrince84 Member+

    Aug 22, 2001
    MD
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Balogun scored a goal against PSG and you are now gassing him up, while Eddie has four goals in three starts against Chelsea and United. What are you even saying here?

    Well first I said Balogun may be more talented than Eddie, just like Saliba is more talented than Holding.

    Second, and more importantly, Eddie is actually performing well in premiership starts while Holding was third or fourth choice last season.

    I have no idea why you are hostile against Eddie who is actually performing right now. Balogun may be better long term but these “short bursts” from Eddie is helping the club win matches.
     
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  3. TitoTata

    TitoTata Member+

    Jun 26, 2014
    I’m seeing bits of Ian Wright in Eddie’s play ..
     
  4. Tonerl

    Tonerl Member+

    Arsenal
    May 10, 2006
    Cincinnati, OH
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If he was ‘useless’ earlier this season it’s because he wasn’t playing. His ‘bi-annual short-term’ purple patches coincide with the times he got starts.

    Balogun is doing extremely well, but he’s scored 10 non-penalty goals in a half season in France. I just don’t see how that’s sustained excellence if what Eddie is doing isn’t.
     
  5. mebeSajid

    mebeSajid Member+

    Feb 16, 2009
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I'm not dissing Eddie here, I've been pleasantly surprised by how he's played.

    Balogun and Eddie have almost identical shooting and scoring numbers, but Balogun's doing it on a team where he's the only option: both are right around 3.5 shots/90 at .2xG/shot (and both have underperformed their xG significantly). But Balogun's getting on the end of good chances on a team that doesn't have the ball as much and doesn't have the quality of passers that Arsenal do.

    And Balogun's a better passer than Eddie is to boot. More ball progression and slightly more key passes, despite ten fewer touches per game.

    Though note that Eddie seems to be a much more willing presser.
     
  6. casoccerdad47

    casoccerdad47 Member+

    Mar 31, 2006
    At the moment I think this argument is a push. Balogun is slightly hotter (goals per 90) in France than Nketiah is In the Premier League. The difference in the quality of the leagues is at least in part offset by the difference in the quality of the creative players at Arsenal. I don’t think we can settle this argument until after the season at the earliest. But if Balogun does, improbably, win the Golden Boot in France, ahead of Mbappe, there are going to be a lot of fans on the Balogun side of the argument.

    At the moment I see two yet to be confirmed arguments for Balogun. First, I believe he is more flexible, more capable of being effective on the wing than Nketiah. The second is a long held personal theory based on a cursory review of the data, I believe that most goal scorers don’t mature until they are about 23, Nketiah’s age. This is attributable to a physical maturity, which we see in Nketiah this season, and experience. The exceptions, the players that become prolific before 23 often become elite.
     
  7. chjoak

    chjoak Member+

    Jun 17, 2009
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    To add to @casoccerdad47...

    Admittedly I have not watched much Reims but the general impression I get is that they are heavily counter attack based offense (all of Balogun's goals seem to be coming on counter) and while that doesn't discount his skill, it is very different being a counter attack vs possession forward (see Pepe). It is entirely possible that Balogun shows well enough this season that we are essentially forced to make a tough decision. Ideally I would like to see him loaned 1 more season to either a mid (ish) table EPL or a top half team from France, Spain or maybe Portugal (I'm a bit iffy on forwards out of Germany & Italy right now) that plays with style of offense that is more similar to Arsenal. That will give us a much better measure of where he is as a ST that would fit Arteta.

    Another note... may not be a popular option but if Eddie continues to play well and Balogun plays well enough that management feels that we need to integrate him... would it be completely off base to make Balogun & Eddie our ST rotation with Jesus rotating across the front line?
     
  8. mebeSajid

    mebeSajid Member+

    Feb 16, 2009
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I don't think there's a dispute that Balogun's potential is higher than Nketiah's. I'm saying that Balogun, right now, is a better player than Eddie is, and that's largely because I think Balogun is a better passer and is more able to drift out wide and interchange with Martinelli and/or Saka.
     
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  9. leppercut

    leppercut Member+

    Oct 10, 2006
    SLC and Anchorage
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The good thing is that we have like 4 months to get a lot more data on both of them! Who knows, maybe Eddie keeps this pace up or maybe he goes dry again.
     
  10. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Like all comparative debates of player A vs player B, it's probably not completely settle-able. But one thing I'll say is that to get closer to an apples-to-apples comparison, it would good to see Balogun back in the EPL (whether with us or on loan). And then (though this is a bit of a stretch) play within a system that's similar to Arsenal's. Yeah right! So really the only way to really get close to settling this is to have both Eddie & Flo here at Arsenal, getting a bunch of starts each, and then compare. Something tells me that's not happening real soon.
     
  11. mebeSajid

    mebeSajid Member+

    Feb 16, 2009
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
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  12. And_ROOS

    And_ROOS Member+

    Dec 30, 2006
    Melbourne, Aus
    Makes you wonder if Balo goes on loan for one more season, or we bring him back because with the league, CL, FA Cup and League Cup there will be plenty of games to go around next season.
     
  13. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Somewhat interesting discussion on BBC Football Daily today which included Balogun, his current coach @Riems, the trilingual 30YO Will Still, etc (both of those are in the second half of the show)

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/football-daily/id261291929?i=1000597792356

    They also talked about Chelsea ridiculous window, Enzo AND how they apparently really botched Ziyech’s loan to PSG… LOL
     
  14. DaPrince84

    DaPrince84 Member+

    Aug 22, 2001
    MD
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
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  15. casoccerdad47

    casoccerdad47 Member+

    Mar 31, 2006
    Balogun with another goal today, bringing his season total to 15.
     
  16. yossarian

    yossarian Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 16, 1999
    Big City Blinking
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He looks good. Would he help in breaking down low blocks?
     
  17. mebeSajid

    mebeSajid Member+

    Feb 16, 2009
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Hard to say based on his play with Reims. His off the ball movement in possession is interesting, seen some interesting one touch play, but good lord his shot selection. It's Townsend-esque.
     
  18. casoccerdad47

    casoccerdad47 Member+

    Mar 31, 2006
    Just noticed this bit of trivia today. In Europes top 5 jeagues only Haaland, Kane, and Osimhen have scored more league goals than Balogun and no one has scored a higher percentage of their team’s goals


    Player Goals Team Goals Contribution
    1 E. Haaland M. City 26 44%
    2 V. Osimhen Napoli 17. 31%
    3 H. Kane Tottenham 17 40%
    4 F. Balogun Reims 15 50%
    5 J. David Lille 14. 35%
    6 R. Lewandowski Barcelona 14. 33%
    7 A. Lacazette Lyon 14. 40%
    8 I. Toney Brentford 14. 39%
    9 W.B. Yedder Monaco 14. 27%
    10 N. Füllkrug W. Bremen 13. 42%

    Table from WhoScored.




     
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  19. Silva 5

    Silva 5 Member+

    Mar 10, 2006
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I saw that Sambi started for palace yesterday so I decided to watch it this morning. He played pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but he was tidy in possession and looked to play some progressive passes on occasion.

    Played about 64 minutes and looked satisfied approaching the bench, shaking hands. I felt happy for him.
     
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  20. thebigman

    thebigman Member+

    May 25, 2006
    Birmingham
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    He play in a 2 or 3?
     
  21. TitoTata

    TitoTata Member+

    Jun 26, 2014
    He’s only on loan hopefully ??
     
  22. Silva 5

    Silva 5 Member+

    Mar 10, 2006
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It looked like a 2 to me, and I immediately thought about how he just may never fit in Arteta's system. But there's no doubt that him coming good would a boon for the club so that they don't have to reinvest.
     
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  23. Silva 5

    Silva 5 Member+

    Mar 10, 2006
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes, 6 month loan.
     
  24. TitoTata

    TitoTata Member+

    Jun 26, 2014
    Good
     
  25. Serengeti_Boy

    Serengeti_Boy Member+

    Sep 15, 2009
    Serengeti, East Africa
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Tanzania
    Tavares seems more and more like a winger not a LB with another goal. Should be considering bringing him back in this position?
     

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