Marseille & Crystal Palace eye up £30-35m signing from Arsenal
Olympique de Marseille are considering progressing their interest in Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun, with the Gunners looking for £30-35m this summer.
The Ligue 1 club are looking for someone to partner former Gunner Alexis Sanchez in attack, with talks over an extended stay for the Chilean reportedly progressing well.
Whether Sanchez stays or not, Marseille are looking to add attackers to their squad. They’re eyeing up multiple targets, and Arsenal’s Balogun is one of them.
Ben Jacobs reports for CaughtOffside that Arsenal could sell Balogun for £30-35m, and he names Crystal Palace as another club to watch in the race.
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It seems Eddie Nketiah is set to stay at Arsenal, so Balogun is the more probable option to depart if the Gunners are looking to cash in.
Whilst there are various options on the table for Balogun this summer, he’s ruling out the possibility of another loan.
Following his first goal and first silverware with the United States Men’s National Team, Balogun spoke to the media about his club future.
“What I can say is that I definitely won’t go on loan again,” Balogun said. “I’m not sure [about] the discussions that are going to take place, I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
Fabrizio Romano reports that a meeting will take place soon between Balogun’s agents and Arsenal, to decide his future.
Various reports suggest Balogun wants regular first-team football next season, so if he doesn’t get it at Arsenal, he’ll want a permanent move elsewhere.
Inter Milan are interested in signing Balogun, and they’re one of the clubs expected to make a formal approach for the striker.
Napoli are also ready to compete in the race, as they eye up potential replacements for Victor Osimhen this summer. So it seems Inter will have competition from within Serie A.
The Athletic have also linked AC Milan, RB Leipzig, and AS Monaco to the striker, and they were the first to report the interest from Marseille.
Balogun scored 21 goals in Ligue 1 this season, bringing him to 22 goals in all competitions for loan club Stade de Reims.
