Folarin Balogun explains decision to leave Arsenal after Mikel Arteta chat and Chelsea interest
Monaco paid an initial £25.7million to sign the 22-year-old striker, who has hit three goals in his first five games for his new club.
Balogun had excelled in France the previous season, while on loan at Reims, and many Arsenal fans had hoped to see him given a chance in the first-team rather than be sold.
Chelsea were among a number of teams keen on the player and he has explained that he remained calm throughout the summer, having not pushed one way or the other as talks were held over his future.
He told ESPN: “It wasn’t something that made me feel anxious, it was just more a case of seeing what wanted to be done. It was out of my hands.
“That’s how I felt. It wasn’t something I could control. The only thing I could do was just turn up to train and work hard. So I did that. And then after training, I enjoyed being back in London.
“I saw my friends, caught up with my family, and yeah, I wasn’t really too bothered about it.”
Balogun rarely featured in Arsenal’s pre-season games, leading to the impression that Mikel Arteta was ready to move on the academy product.
In conversations with the manager, he was told that Arteta was not behind the decison to move him on.
The USA international continued: “He didn’t really say much, he just said that when I came back he just said well done, 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.”
