Arsenal finished the summer transfer window with just Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah as the forward options going into the season. A lot of pressure has been placed on both forwards with a heavy fixture schedule due to the Europa League.
It is pressure in recent weeks which has impacted the forwards in a negative way. Both struggled to get on the scoresheet recently with Jesus’ last goal coming in the North London Derby at the start of October.
However, the fortunes have been different for another Arsenal striker who is currently on loan at French side Reims. Folarin Balogun has endured an excellent start to the campaign which puts him amongst the best young attackers in Europe, and he has showed potency similar to Gareth Southgate’s attack at the upcoming World Cup.
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Harry Kane, Callum Wilson, and Marcus Rashford are Southgate’s forward options going in the World Cup for England. Balogun, who is also eligible for a call-up to the Three Lions has managed to score eight goals in the league this season, which is the same amount as Rashford and more than Wilson, with the Newcastle striker getting on the scoresheet six times so far this campaign.
Balogun is also showing his quality at international level following his England Under-21s domination. Eddie Nketiah is the all-time top scorer for his nation, having scored 14 goals, as he was consistently tasked with leading the line.
This is now the case with Balogun, as he is now the starting striker for England U21s and has scored seven goals in the process. This can give the youngster encouragement for a potential senior call-up in the future if his scoring record continues to match Southgate’s ideal attacking potency ahead of a major international competition.
Balogun’s scoring exploits mean that he has an expected goals-per-90 rate of just below 0.5. This is identical to last season’s Champions League final goal-scoring winner Vinicius Jr. It is even more impressive on Balogun’s side when you take into consideration the difference in quality between Real Madrid and Reims, which allows Vinicius Jr to have a better chance at scoring in each game.
Balogun can take great encouragement with his current loan move due to the previous striker Reims had in their ranks in Hugo Ekitike. The youngster was also a striker who was equipped with a lot of potential, which eventually saw him develop and land a mega-money move to Ligue 1 champions Paris-Saint Germain.
Ekitike was sold to European giants PSG for €35million (£30 million) at the age of 20. The youngster now lines up with Lionel Messi and Neymar for the best team in France.
The Frenchman's quick rise to becoming an excellent striker at just 20 years old highlights the quality development chance that Reims offers. Balogun can take inspiration from this and benefit from this crucial loan move, which is already paying dividends, and this could be the catalyst to a call-up to the England senior team in the future.
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