‘He’s a good attacker’… Teammate defends £35m player who’s struggled since leaving Arsenal

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Mikel Arteta certainly had to make some tough decisions when it came to players departing Arsenal in last summer’s window.

Granit Xhaka’s departure remains controversial to this day, even if Declan Rice has been an outstanding addition in his place.

And whilst fans will have probably been fine with watching the likes of Matt Turner, Auston Trusty and Pablo Mari departing for decent fees, there was a lot more division over departures for players like Kieran Tierney and Folarin Balogun.

Many thought that both Tierney and Balogun could contribute this season, players who still had a lot of potential to unlock.

And whilst Tierney only moved on loan to Real Sociedad in Spain, Balogun completed a £35m permanent move to AS Monaco.

Perhaps Arteta’s decision has now been proved correct in Balogun’s case at least, with the 22-year-old slightly struggling to repeat last year’s Stade Reims numbers in Ligue 1 this season.

Balogun has six goals in 24 games for Monaco, a significant drop off from the 22 in goals in 39 games he managed at Reims.

Folarin Balogun endures tough start at Monaco after leaving Arsenal last summer

That being said, Balogun’s current Monaco teammate, Wilfried Singo, has been defending Balogun in an interview with The Athletic.

Singo was predominantly speaking about his impressive duel with Kylian Mbappe in the chat, but found time to speak about Balogun’s start at the club as well following his Arsenal switch.

Singo said: “He’s a great team-mate — I saw last season at Reims that he had a super season.

“We were really happy that he would rediscover that here with us. He’s a good attacker.

“He’s had some difficult moments here, but that will pass with work because I see his mindset, his focus and determination in training.”

Of course, given Balogun is still adapting to life at Monaco, where he’s not quite the main man as he was at Reims, there’s still plenty of reason to believe that he’ll come good.

Balogun does have some incredibly strong attributes, even if his game could be more well-rounded.

Mikel Arteta must have seen something missing when allowing Balogun to leave Arsenal last summer, but that’s not to say he won’t thrive in another team and system.

All that being said, it seems as if Arsenal could lose another Hale End graduate this summer.