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Arsenal could reportedly have a transfer dilemma on their hands this summer as Folarin Balogun is said to be uninterested in returning to the club if he is only going to be Mikel Arteta’s third choice striker.
Balogun has enjoyed a tremendous season on loan with Ligue 1 side Reims, scoring 15 league goals, behind only Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe, who has 17.
It’s clear the 21-year-old is a top young talent with a big future in the game, and he’ll undoubtedly be keen to use this season to push on and continue showing what he can do at the highest level.
According to the Times, he won’t settle for coming back to Arsenal and only being third choice up front behind Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah.
This is a tricky situation for the Gunners to navigate, as they won’t want to lose a talent like Balogun, though it’s also hard to see how else they could fit him in.
Jesus will surely remain Arteta’s first choice, and Nketiah has had a very decent campaign as the club’s backup at centre-forward.
If possible, Arsenal might look to loan Balogun out again, though some fans will no doubt be keen to see him get a chance in the first-team sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, Balogun has paid tribute to Just Fontaine following his death on the night of Tuesday February 28 to Wednesday March 1 in Toulouse, at the age of 89.
Born on August 18, 1933 in Marrakech, Morocco, Fontaine represented USM Casablanca before he was recruited by OGC Nice, where he quickly established a reputation as one of the most prolific strikers in the world.
After winning the Championship with OGC Nice in 1956, he transferred to Balogun’s current club Stade de Reims, with whom he won the French topflight title three times and the Coupe de France, and played in the final of the 1959 European Cup.
Fontaine holds the record for the most goals in a single World Cup tournament — 13 — in 1958, and that same year he finished with 18 goals for the French national team, also a one-year record.
The fallen striker netted in all the matches he played in at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden — four goals against West Germany, a hat-trick against Paraguay, braces against Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland, and one each against Scotland and Brazil
He scored 164 goals in 200 national league matches, including 152 in 145 appearances for Stade de Reims.