Speaking in his pre-match press conference, as quoted on Arsenal’s official website, Mikel Arteta has claimed that Folarin Balogun wants to stay at Arsenal, despite reports linking him with a move away from The Emirates.
The young striker is out of contract in the summer, and he has been linked with a move to to Liverpool in recent times, but Arteta has claimed that he wants to remain at the Gunners.
The Spaniard also said that the club want to keep him.
“You need three parties to make a deal. For sure, the club wants to make a deal, the manager wants to make a deal, the player wants to stay and I’m not sure about the agent,” Arteta said.
“No, I’m not saying he’s stopping [the deal]. I’m saying that we need to find an agreement with him. We are negotiating with an agent, with a player that wants to stay at the club and we need to find an agreement.”
Arsenal want to keep him and Balogun wants to stay, that seems like the perfect recipe when it comes to getting a player to sign a new contract.
Of course, it isn’t always as easy as that, finances and guarantees on gametime will obviously factor into these negotiations, but this is still a very encouraging update on a player who looked as though he could be on his way out in the near future.
Fingers crossed both parties can come to an agreement on a new contract in the coming weeks as Balogun looks to be a very talented young prospect for the Gunners, earning plaudits from his manager and some pundits in recent times.
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