By Jahid Islam
Hello, readers of We Love You Arsenal! I’m Jahid (@jahidfullstop) back with another article for you lovely lot!
Today’s piece looks at our striker situation given the news of supposed Crystal Palace interest in Eddie Nketiah. With a reported fee of £34mil circulating the rumour mill, I’ll be comparing Eddie to our other striker currently waiting in the wings, Monsieur Flo Balogun, to see which one we should cash in on pronto.
I’m currently writing this piece in the middle of a power cut, which have become a daily occurrence here in Bangladesh. The generator’s working overtime to keep the fan on, I’m running on 5 megabytes of borrowed mobile data, and it’s 35 degrees celsius up in here.
But I’m not the only one in a sticky situation. Edu Gaspar and co. have an important decision to make in the remaining weeks of the transfer window. Flog Eddie or Flo, or neither? They’re both proven talents and potentially already worthy of starting berths in less prestigious clubs, it’s just a question of which one stays at the Ems.
In the season gone by, Flo has absolutely killed it at Stade de Reims under Will Still, ‘who’s unbeaten in 12, and got into coaching because he loves Football Manager’ or however the meme goes. Flo’s played close to every minute of every game bar one in his debut season in Ligue 1, bagging 21 goals and 2 assists and finishing joint 4th in the top scorers list. Just remember that joint 4th position, I’ll come back to that point in a bit.
On the other hand, Eddie was resigned to ‘pity’ minutes in the Premier League. He *technically* made 30 appearances, but with 1089 minutes spread across those 30, it makes his 4 goals and 1 assist seem better than it may first seem. With 2 goals and an assist in 6 games (518 minutes) in the Europa league, he’s taken yet another step in his development towards becoming a good back up striker this season.
But they’ve both clearly got bigger goals in mind than getting a few minutes here and there. They both want to be regular starters, all power to them. You wouldn’t want a striker content with warming the bench. In actuality you wouldn’t want any player to be happy in doing so in a title challenging team.
My mum’s turned off her hotspot so we’re running off the grid for a bit. This is gonzo journalism at it’s finest right here. In the lush greenery of Southern Asia, reporting to you live, Jahid Islam, on something that has nothing do with where I am.
Anyways, that’s where Crystal Palace comes into the fray. With Ayew, Mateta and Edouard up top, they’re not exactly understaffed in the striking department, but perhaps may be looking to improve the quality of forwards considering Ayew’s age and Wilf Zaha’s departure. Gametime wouldn’t necessarily be guaranteed, and there’s little European opportunity available in South London, so a move to palace would probably only last a few seasons before departing for a club with loftier ambitions. But as somewhere to prove himself as a good striker, it’s a good option for him.
In Flo’s case, he might have already accomplished this. Stellar numbers in a mid-table club make his performances look ever more impressive, and should’ve put other clubs looking for a promising young striker on high alert. For instance, Lois Openda, who tied Flo for 4th in the top scorers in Ligue un last season, just moved to Leipzig in a £37million deal. Openda’s a year older and did help his Lens team finish 2nd in the league, but his transfer is a benchmark for what Balogun should easily fetch.
Electricity is back, and cool air has never felt so good. I can finally reply to the 4 notifications I’ve gotten over the last several hours, 2 of which are from my fitness app.
If you’re Edu, you have to demand more than the mid £30millions for either player considering their individual records. Eddie’s England’s U21 top goalscorer and has featured regularly in the first team for a leading Premier League outfit. Flo’s an All-American superstar these days, and has just come of the back of a mightily impressive season with immense stateside appeal and soccer ability, dude.
I saw someone say on twitter that we as as a fanbase have a tendency to undervalue our players, and I agree. We should be demanding top dollar for all our proven Hale End graduates, especially in a market as inflated as this one. There also aren’t many striker options available on the market, so for us to be offering one of the two, there won’t be a shortage of suitors should we hold out for a good price.
Daniel Finton’s latest Frolic looking at whether Balogun is a ‘Diva’ is a brilliant read and talks about the ‘x factor’ that Flo brings. A certain 4 letter word rhyming with ‘top-scorer’; an ego born from self-confidence and assuredness that further aids his attractiveness to top teams.
“For you my friends Borussia Dortmund / AC Milan / Inter, Eddie or Flo. £50 million. Very low price. I throw in Rob Holding for £5 million as well. Today only.”
For Eddie and Flo, lets see what the future holds. I kinda hope we keep Flo and give him a sustained run in the Prem to see if his whole ‘big bollocks’ style carries him to success here. What do you think? Let us know in the comments, on the socials, and everywhere else.
I’ve been Jahid (@jahidfullstop) and as always, thank you for reading! See you in the next one.
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