Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun is currently being courted by at least 3 different national teams, and all indications presently point towards him becoming a USMNT International.
The 21-year-old is a product of the Arsenal academy, he joined the club when he was 8 years old and proceeded to climb the ranks to the senior side.
Balogun made his first team debut back in October of 2020, and in the subsequent month, he grabbed his first senior Arsenal goal during a game against Molde.
The striker is known to be highly rated at the Emirates, and figures at the club have even linked his attributes to that of Arsenal legend Ian Wright.
To further hone his skills, Balogun was sent on a season-long loan to Ligue 1 outfit Reims, and the spell away looks to be doing wonders for the young striker.
Balogun has been ripping up the French league, the striker has netted 17 goals in 27 appearances for Reims, and he currently sits in 3rd place on the league’s top-scoring charts.
Naturally, interest in the 21-year-old has shot up in the last few months, especially in relation to his national allegiances.
Balogun has largely represented England at the youth level, most recently, the Three Lions’ Under-21 side.
But after being snubbed by Gareth Southgate for a senior call-up, his future as an England international has been called into question, as the striker is eligible to play for Nigeria and the US.
Folarin Balogun Gets A Taste Of American Soil
The manner in which the striker pulled out of his recent call-up to the England Under-21 side has made evident that he is disillusioned with his future as an England International.
Balogun briefly represented the United States under-18 team back in 2018, and his birthplace is also America, which makes it easy to see why the USMNT would be his preference in case of a switch.
While this isn’t exactly concrete evidence, fans online have discovered some surefire signs that point to him switching nationalities.
Folarin Balogun is in Orlando, also the place where the USA National Team is these days 👀 pic.twitter.com/QvRnxLIEnw
With the International break currently underway, the US national side is in Florida preparing for their game against El Salvador.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not, Balogun was also pictured in Florida recently, and reports have even suggested that he will be in attendance for the match.
Balogun was 100% training at the same fields as the #USMNT today. Probably did some solo training. He’s here 🇺🇸
USMNT goalkeeper and fellow Arsenal teammate Matt Turner further fueled the idea through a series of comments, including him admitting that Balogun would be ‘a great addition’ to the team.
🗣️| Matt Turner on Folarin Balogun: “I've spoken to Flo we obviously had most of our preseason together. And I knew going into it that he had some roots in the US.
“So him and I developed a relationship pretty quickly. And yeah, that's pretty much the extent of it, we check in…
Naturally, fans began speculating that the keeper might have been laying the groundwork for the striker to switch national loyalties.
While the US camp are known to be in open dialogue with the 21-year-old, fans online have been playing their part as well.
Balogun’s posts on Instagram have been flooded by USMNT fans calling for the player to confirm the switch, and some have even begun celebrating online.
The comment section on Folarin Balogun’s latest IG post 😂🇺🇸
