What a night it was for Arsenal teenager Folarin Balogun on Thursday.
The 19-year-old striker came off the bench in the Gunners’ visit to Molde in the Europa League and scored with almost his first touch.
In doing so, it was also his first senior goal for Arsenal after impressing with Steve Bould’s Under-23 side in recent years.
Balogun has a lot of admirers in the form of Arsenal fans.
But it looks like team-mate Shkodran Mustafi is also a fan of the New York-born hitman, claiming it’s ‘very important’ for a young player in his position to break his duck as soon as possible.
Mustafi, a £35 million signing in 2016, told The Standard: “He’s a very strong and intelligent player. He’s a good striker and he’s hungry.
“I think at this age in strikers you can always see that hunger to score and they always want to do something in the box, and I think for him it was really nice.
“He came on in the last game as well and this time it was his first touch he scored with, so I’m very happy for him because I think this is something that is very important.”
Balogun is out of contract with the North London club next summer.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is on record as saying that he wants to keep him at the Emirates Stadium but this has to be resolved as soon as possible.
His stock is rising now and with January only around the corner, the Gunners don’t want to be in a position where they’re vulnerable to losing him for next to nothing, just because he’d have six months left on his contract.
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