Speaking on the Highbury Squad YouTube channel, Kevin Campbell has shot down the suggestion of calling Folarin Balogun back from his loan at Middlesbrough.
Arsenal have something of a striker crisis on their hands at the moment, there’s no two ways about it.
Alexandre Lacazette missed training this week due to what Mikel Arteta described as personal issues, Eddie Nketiah is out of form, while Gabriel Martinelli is unproven as a number nine.
Inevitably, there were suggestions about bringing Balogun back to the club, but Campbell believes that throwing him in at the deep end would be unfair.
What’s been said?
Campbell responded when he was asked if Balogun should be recalled.
“No, I think for the long-term future of Balogun he has to finish the season, the sample size he’s getting at Middlesbrough is vital for his development, if you call him back he’s not fully done, he’s still learning. We’d only call him back if we’re desperate, and we’d be chucking him in saying ‘right, you better start doing it’, and that’s not fair on the kid, it’s not fair,” Campbell said.
Desperate times
First and foremost, it’s unclear whether or not Arsenal can recall Balogun at this moment in time, but as Campbell says, they would only do so if they were desperate.
Would it be unfair to chuck a 20-year-old in at the deep end like that? Of course it would, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
What would have happened if people told Louis van Gaal it would be unfair to throw a teenager Marcus Rashford in against Arsenal all those years ago? Sometimes the best way to learn is to be thrown into one of these sink or swim situations.
Arsenal have a striker crisis on their hands, and if they can recall Balogun, perhaps they should think about it. After all, he has been described as ‘unbelievable’ by Ian Wright in the past.
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