He’s big on mslintat being the only reason Dortmund was good at anything. Which is a dubious claim at best.
You are correct that I am big on Mislintat. I guess a claim turns into a theory which then should become testable. If a then b will happen. If Stuttgart are close to signing Balogun then Dortmund (i.e. competent) will sign him at all costs. In terms of youth dev, there are --zero clubs-- that rival Dortmund U21 year old sales over the past ten years. ZERO.
All true. Mslintat by all accounts was super important to that side of the business. It'll be interesting to see in the coming years how big of an impact he has vs organizational focus/emphasis up and down a command chain. Also, its clear that Stuttgart has already been really good at this as well historically. Would love some amerikaners to go there!
Agreed. Just to make sure this horse is dead: I hope he goes to Stuttgart. I expect him to go to BVB, if he is not staying at Arsenal. If he goes to Stuttgart, long Matazarro, short BVB./
Going to Germany? EXCLUSIVE!✅- Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun has agreed a pre-contract with RB Leipzig.✍️- Huge blow to Gunners as he prepares to leave for Germany on summer free.🇩🇪https://t.co/9Lv6TsqmBy#AFC pic.twitter.com/br7zBshEVK— Football Insider (@footyinsider247) January 13, 2021
Or maybe somewhere else: Folarin Balogun has received more than 15 bids as a free agent for next summer. His contract situation with Arsenal is stalling, still complicated because he wants to play. 🔴 #AFCRB Leipzig have *not* made an official bid to sign Balogun as of today. ⛔️ #RBLeipzig— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 13, 2021
Leipzig has one of the weakest striker corps of any championship-challenging Big 5 league team. Might be a really smart place to go for important playing time.
fyi Wow, I didn't know Arsenal are shutting Balogun out of playing time until he signs a new contract with them....#usmnt thanks #Arsenal for a #jobwelldone with Balogun and Musah Arsenal. https://t.co/wVWfKi2DaD— Berlin Amerikaner 🇺🇸⚽ (@ttaldridge) January 18, 2021
A short-term lack of playing time is probably good for us given that we'd almost certainly give him call ups on potential whereas England surely wouldn't at the senior-team level. It also lowers his profile for England in general which pushes him further down the pecking order on their applicable youth teams. Assuming he ultimately lands and produces at a place like RBL, he'd have a good shot at making our WC 2022 squad. There's also the Olympics if he gets involved sooner. I think we ultimately get him in the end. We frankly have more to sell in terms of opportunity and I'm relatively confident in both his eventual pragmatism and our current staff's ability to articulate an individual and collective vision that resonates with him.
Just throwing my two cents in here, but I'm really not all that high on Balogun. As an Arsenal supporter I've watched him a number of times and he's rarely jumped off the screen, gets a lot of poacher goals. They brought in a kid from Sweden recently, Nikolaj Moller, who seems to have better physical qualities. It's always an iffy sign when a player scores bunches of goals in youth leagues, yet their club doesn't promote them (granted they whiffed badly on Gnabry a few years ago so take what I say with a grain of salt).
As an aside they reallyyyy messed up with their recruiting this year. Both hwang and sorloth are absolutely garbage and are no where near good enough to be at Leipzig. Balogun would start over both now.
BALOGUN - AGAIN! 😍🔴 3-0 🔵 (45) | #PL2 🏆 pic.twitter.com/KqCQvZhmfi— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) January 22, 2021 Brace in U-23 action Arsenal U-23s up 3-0 over Brighton U-23s
BALOGUN! HAT-TRICK HERO! ⚽️⚽️⚽️🔴 5-0 🔵 (90+4) | #PL2 🏆 pic.twitter.com/SLcKKU8H3H— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) January 22, 2021 Completes the hat trick. Ends 5-0 for Arsenal U-23s
Yeah, if I were him, I'd post that too. And I'd probably post it again every day until I got first team time.
Ummm, yes please. Mr. Berhalter and Mr. McBride, may we have this guy for our USMNT please? Cherry on top?!!
Sure, he dribbled 6 guys on the goal, but - stay with me here - what about the 4 guys he didn't? Not impressed. Lol, this level of competition is so far below him it's absurd. I really hope he chooses to play for us.
Started for U23s: 🚨 #AFCU23 TEAM NEWS 🚨Good to have you with us tonight, @ReissNelson9 👋#PL2 🏆 pic.twitter.com/kecLrgP7EV— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) February 5, 2021
Several European reports have linked Juventus as the closest to striking a deal for Arsenal's Folarin Balogun. Balogun reportedly will leave the club this summer on a free despite a new contract on the table from the Gunners. #USMNT— Larry Henry Jr (@lhenry019) February 12, 2021
He's now a foreign player in Italy. Could be a tough ask depending on the numbers of foreign players on the roster.