Mikel Arteta suggests he’s not changed his mind about 22-year-old Arsenal player

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that his stance over Folarin Balogun’s future hasn’t changed since Gabriel Jesus’ injury.

With Jesus set to miss the league start, fans would naturally wonder if that would lead to Balogun staying at the Emirates.

However, Arteta, in his post-match comments via Football London, seemed to insist that Balogun will still be on the move this summer.

Arteta said: “The plans with Flo don’t change at all but unfortunately with Gabby we’re not going to have him.

“We have other options to play with different qualities of players and we will adapt.”

Given Arsenal’s stance appears to have already been that Balogun can leave for the right price, nothing will have changed.

Fans may be disappointed to hear that update given they are yet to see all the progress the USMNT striker has made in the last year.

Balogun appears to be a much improved version of the player who left the Emirates on loan.

And given Jesus’ injury, it seems the perfect time for Arteta to reintroduce Balogun back into the fold at Arsenal.

Arteta has not changed his mind over Balogun’s future at Arsenal

Perhaps Arteta’s perceived reluctance to reintroduce Balogun is down to the player’s stance.

Quite fairly, Balogun does not want to be a back-up player at the Emirates this season, nor does he want another loan move.

And Arteta reintroducing Balogun now simply would be as a back up.

If Balogun isn’t going to be the player that Arteta turns to after Jesus’ injury then Arsenal may need to look to the market again.

If Balogun leaves Arsenal will be reduced to just two strikers – Jesus and Eddie Nketiah.

And whilst both are excellent, that’s probably not sufficient for the 50 odd games they’ll be playing this season.

If Arteta doesn’t deem it necessary to recruit further then that may suggest that he sees Leandro Trossard or Gabriel Martinelli as capable through the middle.

Both have had promising cameos in the role but there may be doubts over their output over long periods.

Either way, with Jesus’ fresh injury and Balogun still looking likely to leave, Arteta has a fresh problem to solve at Arsenal.