BREAKING! Arsenal set Price tag for in-form star at the Emirates ahead of Summer Switch

Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun might eventually be worth the £50 million figure that has been placed on him, journalist Dean Jones has suggested to GiveMeSport.

The 21-year-old has been one of the breakout stars of European football so far this season, sparking speculation over where his long-term future may lie.

Balogun is currently enjoying an extremely productive loan spell at Ligue 1 outfit Stade Reims, and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted he will have to discuss the player’s plan with him at the end of the current campaign.

“He’s got something special, that’s why we gave him a long-term contract and have faith in him and give him the long period that he’s having now, because the period he’s having now is different to the one before at Middlesbrough,” said Arteta.

“The plan is that he finishes his period there, assess the situation where he is, where we are, then sit down and plan the next chapter in his developing career.”

Balogun will have just two years remaining on his Arsenal contract when he returns to north London in the summer, meaning Arteta and sporting director Edu will have some big decisions to make.

And Football Insider have claimed that Arsenal are ‘expecting to be deluged with offers’ for Balogun, who is valued at around £50 million, when the market reopens for business.

What has Jones said about Balogun?

In an interview with GMS, he said: “Look, on the back of good form in Ligue 1, you’ve got to be careful as a buying club because you don’t know how that form is going to transfer.

“But he’s flying at the moment, all you can do is put his goals record on the table and hope that he can live up to the sort of levels that other players have managed to achieve from this kind of point in the past.

“So, £50 million might become a price point for him, but at the moment, I don’t think he’s quite there.”

How has Balogun been playing?

Balogun has been thriving at Stade Reims throughout 2022/23, finding the back of the net on 16 occasions in his 25 appearances, setting up two further strikes for his teammates.

The England Under-21 international has struck 15 times in Ligue 1, making him the division’s joint-top goalscorer alongside Kylian Mbappe and Jonathan David.

As Jones alluded to, though, maintaining that sort of form and replicating it will be the next task for Balogun, and Arsenal could look to cash-in on him in the summer while his stock is high.