Arsenal parted ways with several stars this summer and one of them was the highly-rated Folarin Balogun.
The striker made the move to Monaco for an initial £25.7m following an impressive spell in France with Stade de Reims last season. Many thought that campaign would earn him a shot at Arsenal but things didn’t turn out that way.
Balogun rarely featured in Arsenal’s pre-season games over the summer, leading to the impression that Mikel Arteta was ready to move on from the academy product.
However, the 22-year-old has revealed that it was the club that wanted to sell him, not the Arsenal manager.
Speaking to ESPN, Balogun stated that Arteta tried to get him involved in the Arsenal set-up as best he could, but it was people higher up who were making the decisions on his future at the London club.
The USA international said: “He didn’t really say much, he just said that when I came back he just said well done [for Reims loan spell], and he encouraged me to keep going.
“Then me coming back in a pre-season, it was just more about me seeing whether I fit into his plans and seeing if I can continue to play some games.
“He said that he would try to get me involved as best as he could, but of course, he also told me that the people higher up were making decisions on me and seeing what would be best for me. So the conversations between me and him were good, but it was more about the club, what they wanted to do.”