Arteta: “The club wants to make a deal, the manager wants to make a deal, the player wants to stay and I’m not sure about the agent. We are negotiating with an agent, with a player that wants to stay at the club and we need to find an agreement. I’m telling you that we are doing everything we can to keep him here and hopefully from the other part they are doing the same and in the same interest, which is the player’s interest which is to stay at the football club and be successful with us.”
Well well well…Arteta is insinuating that Balogun’s agent may look to have Balogun join an another club. What a bummer that would be?
So what do you think? Will Edu convince Balogun to stay or will his agent have the last word?
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Here we are again with another player running down his contract. For the past 5 years we’ve been spaffing money up the wall by letting players leave for free or swapping for sub-standard replacements.
Huss Fahmy was meant to be on this, but he was sacked. Where is the business acumen to deal with this obvious problem?
I’ve seen Balogun a few times. He looks decent, Can’t say much more because I haven’t seen enough. Is he worth pushing the boat out for? I don’t know.
I read on Arseblog that his agent is the same as Nketiah. That creates a problem. I’m not convinced Nketiah is good enough to lead the line for Arsenal, but I don’t know if Balogun is good enough either.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dortmund snap him up to replace either Sancho or Haaland (maybe both), who will be sold for huge money.
Agents are always pushing for their clients to move as they get a cut of the signing on fee. They work in their own interests, not in the interests of either player or club.
As CMO I have been a major sponsor for many sports, clubs and athletes. There would be a lot mor sponsors investeing more money if it hadn’t been for two things; complex/conflicting sports rights and AGENTS. More common than not, agents prioritise their own income, and seldom what’s in the interest of the athlete. A lot of young footballers come with no education and business experience at all, and are easy “victims” for agents.
This is difficult for Arsenal. If you bypass the agent, he will work against them. If they don’t he’ll still only be loyal to his own wallet.
Therefore, many clubs take the agent into account as they choose what players to go for, and especially who not go for, in the market allthough they will never confirm that in public.
Other clubs face the same problem obviously.
It is unlikely that an Agent can make a player leave a club where he is personally happy to stay.
A player who wants to leave and go to another club may say one thing (stay) and mean something else (go).
Why? Well, If a player publicly said he was happy to stay at a club (Arsenal), really wanted (privately) to transfer to another club he had supported as a child, he would not want to say so to the fans, in case the negotiations, going on in the background, fell through.
There is precedence for this based on player transfers from Arsenal, after the event.
Rumour has it (and we all know a rumour is not necessarily fact) Balogun has expressed a preference to transfer to “Pool and play for them.
Arsenal are reported to have made a short-term loan of around £120m under the CCCF rules, to help them over the difficulties caused by Covid_19 – so maybe the truth is that player contracts are being squeezed, and maybe Balo’s agent is not getting the salary the player wants.
Hi RA – I agree with you to a certain extent. When money becomes involved especially with younger players, agents may be able to persuade them to join another outfit. For example, if an agent says to a player, run your contract out and then sign for X club and you will get a sign-on fee of 10 Mln Pounds…It is worth considering, no?
I realise this was written to create a talking point but if you listen to the rest of the Arteta interview he does clarify that it is not the agent who is holding things up and he didn’t mean to accidentally imply that.
Just a note on Mkhi. Here are his stats at AFC and Roma;
AFC – 59 games, 9 goals, 13 assists
ASR – 48 games, 18 goals, 15 assists
Mind boggling how this player could not succeed in the EPL whether at AFC or Man Utd
Saliba back at Arsenal for next pre-season, says Mikel.
What we have seen of Balogun suggests to me another Anelka in style. Would be interesting to get a view on him from Arsene! All comes down, as RA says, to what the player himself really wants! Get him on the pitch, Mikel, and convince him to sign. If he then doesnt prove good enough at least you can sell him to a French Club for a fortune and get some of the Pepe money back.
Balogun has the best gunner name though, no?
Hi LB – it is true that Arteta clarified the situation but he also did not deny that a deal has not been agreed with Balogun yet 😛
After many years of watching Arsenal, just like the rest of you, I have finally worked out what is wrong with those players who really bug us all.
We can check out whether players should be bought, or not, and all we need to do is get Arteta alone on the pitch with the prospective new buy, and here we go……. at the end of the training session, Arteta can tell ’em if they make the grade, or why they did not:-
— There were two of us training on the pitch
But there were four of us there, me, you, and your big feet
From your ankles up, I’d say you sure look neat
From there down there’s just too much feet
Your feet’s too big
Don’t want ya ’cause ya feet’s too big
Can’t use ya ’cause ya feet’s too big
I really hate ya ’cause ya feet’s too big
Where did ya get ’em?
Man oh man those things are too big
Oh your feet’s too big
Don’t wantcha ’cause ya feet’s too big
Mad at you ’cause your feet’s too big
I hate you ’cause your feet’s too big
Off you go, son, you and them there feet ……
The rumours say that Balogun will stay if Nketiah gets sold and he has a better chance of getting playing time,if true that’s understandable.
Nketiah is fourth choice behind Laca,Auba and Martinelli and would not be missed even though he is a handy player i would sell him and keep Balogun if thats the choice.
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