Arsenal justified in £34m striker transfer decision amid Edu's summer dilemma

Arsenal decided to accept Monaco’s offer for Folarin Balogun following lengthy negotiations, receiving a fee which could rise to €40million (£34million) with a 17.5 per cent sell-on clause, football.london understands. It was a decision which not every supporter was on board with as the American international’s stock had grown considerably following a loan with Stade Reims in which he scored 22 goals in 39 games across all competitions.

Mikel Arteta was happy to allow Balogun to leave with the deal making the club pure profit having been developed in the academy and also several existing centre-forward options at his disposal. That said, despite the presence of Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard the side has struggled to score as frequently and consistently as they did last season.

So the question remains therefore whether it was indeed the right choice. Looking at Balogun’s time at his new club Monaco and he has so far failed to recreate the scoring heights that he achieved with Reims. He has four goals in all competitions this season from 17 matches but has also chipped in with five assists.

Compared to Eddie Nketiah who was effectively favoured over Balogun although the interest in the American certainly made it easier for the club to make the call, the now England international has six goals and five assists from 28 matches. Yes, Nketiah has played more games than Balogun but that does not tell the full story.

Balogun is starting more games than his former teammate and according to Transfermarkt has played 1106 minutes of football compared to Nketiah’s 1276 despite featuring in 11 more games. This is the context needed perhaps to get an understanding of the decision the club made.

At Monaco, Balogun is playing alongside the experienced Wissam Ben Yedder who has 13 goals during the season so far. It is a new system for Balogun and he is still young and adapting.

Yet it can be argued with a strong case that Arsenal have indeed, at least so far, been vindicated in their decision to sell. Furthermore, the club will want Balogun to improve and do well and even move on for big money with that 17.5 per cent sell-on clause inserted into the deal.

Selling remains an aspect of sporting director Edu Gaspar’s remit that remains under scrutiny from supporters. Whilst the money received for Balogun and the likes of Granit Xhaka and Joe Willock during his tenure have been good there have been several players whose sales fall into question for what was received.

Bernd Leno, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Lucas Torreira and several players leaving on free deals. This summer, there will be a lot more eyes on how Arsenal sell with a number of players primed to make big switches elsewhere.