Premier League Rumors: Arsenal Deal For Balogun May Come Soon After Southampton Interest

Arsenal has given up on possibly keeping Folarin Balogun with the 19-year-old striker failing to come to terms with the Gunners. Talks have not gone well with both sides with Arsenal wanting to offer the 19-year-old striker a performance-based contract. It is the same deal that was offered to Xavier Amaechi last summer but 19-year-old opted to move forward. He is now with Hamburg in Germany.

Balogun could have earned big had he continued his progress. However, it appears his camp wants something set, resulting in the standoff. Now, Arsenal is hoping to deal him away and get something similar to Amaechi. As mentioned in a previous post, the Gunners are receiving $2.76 million but the figures could go higher depending on his performance. That is likely to be the setup that Arsenal would want.

So far, the teams linked to Balogun include Brentford and AC Milan. Brentford tried to pitch for the 19-year-old last January but Arsenal thumbed down the $6 million offer. AC Milan also tried to lure him away from Emirates Stadium but failed. Both teams are likely to renew interest in Balogun although another club is reportedly joining the mix.

According to the Daily Mail, Southampton will be joining the race for Balogun's services. This would broaden the teams interested in the New York-born striker who has scored 28 goals in 28 youth appearances for the Gunners last season. This season, Balogun scored 10 goals in 15 appearances for Arsenal's under-23 before the season ended in May.

Arsenal stands to lose another promising young talent rated as one of the promising attackers over in England. Keeping Balogun made a lot of sense although the Gunners already have some young blood getting chances to make the first-team. Balogun will never get that chance following these developments.

Tyreece John-Jules and Eddie Nketiah have been getting their chances and that is expected to continue moving forward. Balogun could have had a good chance to crowd both players and could have made a difference. Unfortunately, contract talks reached an impasse, meaning the 19-year-old will have to bring his talent elsewhere. As of this writing, there was no mention of official talks going on between the Gunners and interested teams.