AC Milan weighed up a move for Folarin Balogun before he decided to leave Arsenal and join Monaco, according to a report.
According to Ligue 1 journalist Jonathan Johnson’s column in Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing on Substack, Arsenal’s asking price earlier this summer for Balogun was a little bit ‘unrealistic’, which is when there were other teams circling.
RB Leipzig and the two Milan clubs were keen on signing the USA international from the Gunners but their demands meant they had to cool their interest.
Leipzig ended up moving for Lois Openda instead, while Milan were never likely to pay a huge fee for one player even despite the club-record sale of Sandro Tonali to Newcastle United.
Johnson writes that in the end Arsenal ‘were pretty fortunate really that Monaco needed to make the move for an attacking reinforcement’ and thus were willing to make such a big investment. As per Sky among other sources, the deal is €40m.
From Balogun’s point of view, the move back to Ligue 1 – where he shone last season under Will Still – should at least help get him consistent playing time to develop before potentially sealing a bigger move down the line.
