'We don't really talk' - Balogun shares brutally honest opinion on his relationship with Arteta 

England U21 international of Nigerian descent Folarin Balogun has spoken about his relationship with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. 

The Hale End Academy graduate has made ten career appearances for Arsenal's first team, with the Spanish football tactician in the Gunners dugout. 

Balogun was heavily tipped to depart the Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2021 but made a U-turn and put pen to paper on a new contract with the hope that he would get first-team opportunities. 

The 21-year-old has been starved of game time since committing his future to his boyhood club, making just four appearances in all competitions. 

Having returned from his loan spell at Middlesbrough FC, Balogun saw the handwriting on the wall that he wasn't in the plans of Arteta for the 2022-2023 season after he was denied playing time during the Gunners' United States tour in July 2023, much to the frustration of the center forward. 

Asked to comment on his relationship with Mikel Arteta, Balogun told Onze Mondial : "We don't really talk. We don't communicate much and in reality, we never really communicated".

Balogun has mustered seventeen goals in 27 games for Stade de Reims in the Ligue 1 this season, making him the joint-third highest goalscorer in the division along with Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco) and Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyonnais).

Only Jonathan David (Lille) and Kylian Mbappé (PSG), who are on nineteen goals, have netted more than the Anglo-American-Nigerian striker this season. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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