According to a recent claim by The Beautiful Game Podcast, Crystal Palace – as well as Sheffield United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Southampton and Brentford – are interested in a move for Arsenal centre-forward Folarin Balogun.
So far in his Arsenal career, the 19-year-old has highly impressed for the club’s youth sides, scoring 38 goals and providing eight assists over his 41 appearances for the Arsenal U18 side, as well as 13 goals and four assists over 31 appearances for the club’s U23 side (as per Transfermarkt).
Despite this fine goalscoring record in the Arsenal youth setup, Balogun is yet to make a first-team appearance for the club, with The Beautiful Game Podcast recently claiming on Twitter that it appears the player is extremely unlikely to sign a new contract with the north London side, with his current deal set to expire next summer.
The same account also states that Sheffield United have had a £3 million bid rejected for the forward, and that Palace, as well as a number of English clubs, are also keen on the 19-year-old.
According to the Daily Mail, the Gunners have set an asking price of £15 million for Balogun, while Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has confirmed that his club are indeed interested in the youngster.
Would you happy to see Palace pay £15 million for Folarin Balogun?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
An asking price of £15 million seems extremely steep considering that Balogun is yet to play a senior game of football, regardless of his impressive record at youth level.
In comparison, Palace paid £16.02 million for Eberechi Eze earlier this summer – a player who had featured 112 times for Queens Park Rangers, scoring 20 goals and providing 13 assists – which makes Arsenal’s £15 million asking price for Balogun seem, in our opinion, even more unrealistic.
Whether or not Palace, or indeed any other club, end up paying Arsenal’s asking price, we will have to wait and see. However, in our view, Palace should not be paying anywhere near £15 million for a player who is yet to make a senior first-team appearance.