Arsenal Coach Reveals The Real Reason Why Balogun Was A Late Sub Vs Dinamo Zagreb

Published: December 20, 2019

Arsenal U23 coach Steve Bould has explained the rationale behind his thinking when he brought on Nigeria-eligible striker Folarin Balogun in the closing minutes of his side's 3-2 victory against Dianmo Zagreb in a Premier League International Cup match on Tuesday.

Having recovered from an ankle injury, Balogun had been expected to get more game time against the Croatian opponents as he aims to build up his match fitness but played for just ten minutes (excluding injury time).

Dinamo Zagreb equalised through Baturina on 79 minutes before Balogun was summoned off the bench a minute later as the Emirates outfit searched for a winner.

"It’s major to have competition. Flo unfortunately couldn’t get on a little bit earlier, I wanted to sling him on a little bit early but when you’re winning the game it’s a little bit difficult to change the system," Bould said to arsenal.com.

''I think at the end, he created the winning goal, so it’s great competition all round.

"Nathan Tormey and Trae Coyle, I know they came off again, but they put in a terrific shift and I was delighted with everybody tonight."

Balogun trained with the Arsenal first team squad in Hertfordshire ahead of their trip to Belgium for their final Europa League group match against Standard Liege.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com