Arsenal hit gold selling star Arteta said was ‘something special’

Over the past five years or so, arsenal they have completely transformed themselves as a football club.

While there have been changes in the boardroom and a new willingness to spend on the part of owners, much of that change appears to have come from Mikel Arteta.

The Spaniard has made the team consistent Premier League title challengers on the pitch and in turn an incredibly attractive destination for some of the game’s biggest stars.

However, in addition to this, he has also seen an improvement in the way the club is sold on the market, with the sale of a player he previously rated highly as a prime example of this evolution.

Arteta’s remarkable sales

Before we get to the player in question, it’s worth looking at some of the other brilliant sales made under Arteta’s management, starting with Eddie Nketiah.

The former Academy gem was an important part of the Spaniard’s squad and even received a £100,000-a-week contract in the summer of 2022.

However, after two seasons of underwhelming displays, he was finally moved in the summer.

What makes his departure so remarkable is that, despite being clearly surplus to requirements at the Emirates, Crystal Palace still agreed to pay a 30 million pounds for himand although he scored against the Gunners on Wednesday night, his return from two goals and an assist in 14 appearances isn’t great.

Another brilliant sale made under the Spanish manager was fellow academy graduate Joe Willock, who joined Newcastle United on a permanent deal for around £25m in the summer of 2021.

The England midfielder joined the Magpies on a six-month loan that January and looked electric, scoring eight goals in 14 games.

However, in his first full campaign in the northeast, he could only muster a total of two goals in 31 gamesand as things stand, it has a rather mediocre amount of 16 goals and seven assists in 119 appearances for the Toon, making the money Arsenal received for him look excellent.

However, there has been another academy gem sold under Arteta’s reign who earned the club even more money than Willock and Nketiah, someone the manager thought highly of.

Arteta’s brilliant sale

So, to get straight to the point, the player in question is none other than former academy star Folarin Balogun.

The American international was once an incredibly exciting prospect at Arsenal, so much so Martin Keown compared him to Ian Wright and Andy Cole after scoring in a Europa League game in 2020.

However, it was the 22/23 season, when he was loaned out to Ligue 1 side Stade Reims, the ‘unbelievable’ gem as dubbed by former manager Will Stillit really announced itself to the wider football world.

In just 39 first-team appearances, he scored 22 goals and three assistsequivalent to an average involvement of one goal every 1.56 games.

Unsurprisingly, this drew considerable praise from Arteta, who he told the media that there was The striker’s “something special”, whatever it was, was still not enough to see him as the manager’s new starter on his return.

So, that summer, when AS Monaco came with a mega bid of £34 millionthe north Londoners bit their hand, and during the season and a bit afterwards, it has felt like a great decision to do so.

For example, although he was still effective in France last season, a lot of eight goals and seven assists in 32 games it is difficult to break the ground.

Also, your count of three goals and one assist in ten appearances this season wouldn’t be enough to see him start for the Gunners.

Ultimately, Balogun is a very talented footballer and someone who looks more than good enough to enjoy a great career in one of Europe’s top five leagues, but it seems doubtful that he will become the world beater that some they thought

So it was brilliant business by Arteta and Arsenal to get £34m for him last season, especially as he probably wouldn’t have played much of a role had he stayed.

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