Arsenal will be in line to profit if USMNT starlet Folarin Balogun leaves AS Monaco this summer.
The young centre-forward put his name up in lights in Los Angeles as he struck an excellent brace to kickstart the host nation’s World Cup campaign with a bang against Paraguay. His memorable double means that he is the first American player to score a brace at a World Cup since Bert Patenaude way back in 1930.
Monaco will be desperate to keep him this summer on the back of a 19-goal season but if he attracts interest, Arsenal’s coffers could well be boosted.
That’s because Mirror Football understands that they have a 17.5% sell-on clause, which they negotiated when selling Balogun to the Ligue 1 outfit back in August 2023 for £34million including add-ons.
There was no buy-back clause in the deal but a new striker is not among the Gunners’ top priorities in the transfer market, anyway.
Balogun claimed his World Cup bow was a “dreamy night” as the USMNT made it clear they are not participating in the tournament just to make up the numbers.
The 24-year-old said: “It’s important to take each game at a time. But of course, Poch has said many times, ‘Why not us?’
View 2 ImagesFolarin Balogun celebrates scoring during the World Cup Group D match(Image: AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
“We have to believe, you can’t do anything if you don’t believe in yourself. So a 4-1 against a tough Paraguay side, we’ll look to recover and rest for the next game. “Three goals in the first half opening game, I felt like it was a real statement, and that’s what we wanted to do. It’s a dreamy night.”
Balogun has required time to settle in at Monaco, who made a serious financial commitment to prise him away from Arsenal.
While Mikel Arteta was open to keeping him at the time, he couldn’t provide Balogun with assurances of minutes and it was clear that he would have to move on to play regularly.
Inter Milan and AC Milan were among those keen around the time but Monaco pounced to win the race for his signature and now there’s a sense he is worth more than his purchase price.
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