Mikel Arteta told £50m Arsenal player he needs to improve his hold-up play

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Mikel Arteta told 22-year-old Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun that he needed to improve his hold up play to progress.

That’s via his old academy coach Kevin Betsy who was speaking in an interview with The Athletic.

Betsy shared that Arteta and his coaching staff were very clear with their development plan for Balogun.

Betsy said: “Albert (Stuivenberg) and Mikel would do a lot of his game reviews.”

“They were very clear in terms of what his development plan was. Flo needed to improve his hold-up and link-up because he was very good at running into space and finishing.”

“The other thing they wanted to improve was his reactions to start pressing.”

Balogun, who had plenty of success with Arsenal’s U21s, absolutely thrived whilst out on loan at Reims last season.

The US international scored 21 goals in 37 Ligue 1 games and is now linked with a £50m move to the likes of Inter Milan.

You would expect that Balogun improved in a lot of areas targeted by the Arsenal coaches during that year in France.

With Balogun targeting regular game time this season and not being open to another loan, he’s at a crossroads in his Arsenal career.

It seems increasingly likely that the academy graduate could depart the Emirates on a permanent deal this season.

Arteta is giving Balogun a chance in Arsenal’s pre-season

Upon returning to Arsenal for pre-season Folarin Balogun has featured in both of their friendlies thus far.

The US striker came on as a substitute in their 5-0 win over the MLS All-Stars.

With lots of speculation over his future, and a hefty £50m asking price, Balogun will hope to impress in Arsenal’s remaining friendlies.

Next up for Arsenal is a friendly against Manchester United on Saturday, and they will then also face Barcelona and Monaco.

This is all before Arsenal’s curtain-raiser against Manchester City in the FA Community Shield.

Whether Folarin Balogun will still be an Arsenal player for that game will be interesting to see.

Any potential move away is already one of the key transfer sagas this summer.

And whilst it’s hard for Arsenal fans to see an academy graduate leave, it may be best at this point in Balogun’s career.