£50m Folarin Balogun’s transfer decision should be obvious amid Chelsea, AC Milan and Crystal Palace links

Of all the innovations and luxuries of the modern technological era, Folarin Balogun will currently be most appreciative of the invention of call screening. The 22-year-old Arsenal forward is firmly on the transfer market and has been linked with so many clubs that he would be drowning in ringtones without the opportunity to filter out some of the nuisance calls (you know, the callers which pretend they’re from EE, the sporting director of Marseille, that sort of thing).

So long is the queue to have a chat with the American international that Arsenal have upped their asking price from £35m to a reported £50m, and the chances are that several clubs will be willing to stump up the cash. The big question, of course, is where he should take his skills next to get the best out of a promising career.

Staying at Arsenal doesn’t seem to be an option. For whatever reason, Mikel Arteta and the backroom staff have decided that they’d rather have the money than the player, and his 21 goals in Ligue 1 on loan at Stade Reims doesn’t seem to have changed anybody’s mind. So a gifted young striker will be taking his services elsewhere, with plenty of options both in England and across the continent.

There are, simply put, too many teams linked with his signature go though them all without this article becoming deeply tedious – so we’re going to look at two of the best fits from Europe and the two Premier League clubs with seemingly certain interest in buying Balogun, and run the rule over his options to see where he should pitch up next. This is a pivotal moment in a career that’s only just got up and running, and making the wrong move could put the skids on before he’s really gotten started.

Chelsea

The latest and most unexpected entry into the race to sign Balogun – over the weekend the rumour mill picked up Mauricio Pochettino’s interest and ran with it, and while there are no reports of advanced negotiations taking place it does seem like Chelsea are genuinely considering a move.

From Balogun’s perspective, you can view a move to Chelsea one of two ways. On the one hand, this could be the chance to join a big club at the bottom of the curve and get first-team minutes that might not be available were they in the Champions League. On the other hand, there’s absolutely the potential for Chelsea to continue to be a complete mess – and a pretty solid likelihood of falling behind Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson in the pecking order. It’s hard to imagine him playing week in, week out at Stamford Bridge given the resources they still have, and while there’s a pretty solid best-case scenario, there are a lot of ways it could all go very wrong. Surely too great of a risk from the youngster’s perspective.

AC Milan

Another European giant who have been heavily linked with a move for Balogun – and one who can offer Champions League football and a realistic chance of a title challenge to boot. If Balogun’s main motivation is silverware, Milan are surely his best short-term option.

While some of the same caveats about playing time apply here as they would at Chelsea, the situation would likely be better – Olivier Giroud remains Milan’s main central striker and, at 36 years old, he is likely to be stepping slowly aside, creating plenty of chances for game time. Milan are also not in a financial position to drop £50m on a player and bench him – something Chelsea can do and frankly have done in recent times. Balogun has already demonstrated the ability to adapt to life overseas, so it’s pretty hard to come up with any strong arguments against a move to Milan.

RB Leipzig

RB Leipzig have established themselves as one of the best nurseries for emerging talent in the European game and nobody could blame Balogun for being interested in a move to a team that have a well-earned reputation for not just improving talented young players but also for making sure they get regular first-team football.

The departure of Nkunku to Chelsea means that there’s vacancy for Balogun to fill and there’s Champions League football on offer as well. The question is whether a move to Leipzig would represent a sufficient step up as he looks to maintain forward momentum in his career – if he’s good enough for a Chelsea, or for Milan, could he take a bigger step forward? There’s also a very large question mark over whether Leipzig will even still be keen given the swifty-spiralling price tag – their model is buying to sell, and it’s hard to ensure the required profits if the fee is close to £50m. They may well pull out of the race as it intensifies.

Crystal Palace

A rank outsider in the race, perhaps, but Palace’s reported interest seems sincere. He would almost certainly shatter their transfer record (the £27m splashed out on Christian Benteke) and Palace aren’t typically the type of club to go splashing the big bucks, but they’ve been in the Premier League long enough to have the largesse and have a pressing need for goals. From their perspective, a deal for Balogun certainly make a certain amount of sense, even if putting that much money in the hands of a half-proven youngster is an uncharacteristic risk.

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From Balogun’s point of view, Palace are an interesting prospect. While his purchase may be a gamble for Palace, it’s a pretty sure deal for the player – he’d be the main man up front and one of the first names on the team sheet. Things would have to go badly wrong for Balogun not to get all of the top-tier minutes he needs to develop. On the other hand, the quality of teams asking after him implies that he could probably get most of those minutes at a club playing their football at a higher level of the game. Palace would be a safe choice for him, but certainly not the most ambitious.

The 3AM Verdict

So where should the gifted American go next? Given the apparent options, we’d say AC Milan would be a risk worth taking. There are other big clubs in the market, but they seem to present the best combination of status and opportunity for game time. We wouldn’t blame him for playing it safe and playing for a side like Leipzig or Palace (and Fantasy Premier League players would simply love it if he went for the latter) but if he has genuine star power in those boots, Milan should allow him to realise that, and soon.