Arteta Assures Folarin Balogun Of Arsenal Future

Arteta Assures Folarin Balogun Of Arsenal Future  

Alfred Kadiri

Mikel Arteta has hinted that Nigeria-born Folarin Balogun has a future with Arsenal, reports BSNSports.com.ng.

On loan with Reims, Balogun is currently the top scorer in Ligue 1.

The Gunner's boss said, "So happy for him. He's a boy with a really clear idea of what he wants to do in his career. Ambitious, really committed and he's really brave. We discussed before whether it was the right place to go [on loan to Reims] and other choices that he had. He was so convinced and I'm happy for him because he deserves what he's getting.

"I'm very pleased and obviously when you look at the numbers and what he's doing it's just incredible and very rare to see that. But he's got something special, that's why we gave him a long-term contract and have faith in him and give him the long period that he's having now because the period he's having now is different to the one before at Middlesbrough. But that one was very necessary to see the outcome that he's having now."

On Balogun's previous loan with Middlesbrough, Arteta also said: "He had some scars from that period. There were moments when he suffered, moments where he played, moments where he didn't play, and moments where he played but he believed he wasn't in his best position and throw all the excuses out. It's a proper experience to add to the next one. That's what he did, put that behind him but using what worked for him, what didn't work for him, look in the mirror and go to the next one."

He added, "The plan is that he finishes his period there, assesses the situation where he is, where we are, then sits down and plans the next chapter in his developing career."