Petit claims Arsenal starlet will ‘be sold’ this summer as he pinpoints ‘two players’ Arteta must sign

Joe Williams
Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit

Emmanuel Petit reckons Arsenal will sell Folarin Balogun in the summer transfer window as they already have two strikers.

Under the guidance of Will Still at Reims, Balogun has been in fantastic form for the Ligue 1 side, contributing 18 goals and two assists in 30 league matches.

That has seen a number of clubs around Europe sit up and take notice of the talented 21-year-old, while Arsenal are also monitoring his progress closely.

There have been reports that the New York City-born striker could leave the Emirates Stadium in the summer with Arsenal valuing him at £50m.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano said at the end of Marcht that “many, many clubs” are interested in Balogun with Bundesliga side RB Leipzig one of the named teams.

And former Arsenal midfielder Petit reckons Balogun will be sold with Mikel Arteta already able to call upon Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah.

Petit told Legal Sportsbooks: “I don’t know if they will continue with the strikers they have. They’ve got Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus.

“Florian Balogun I think will be put on the market to be sold. There are so many clubs in France, and not just in France, who are very interested in him.”

Arteta and technical director Edu have done really well with their recruitment over the last few transfer windows and they will be looking to improve their squad again in the summer.

And Petit reckons they still need “at least two players” to compliment what they already have at their disposal if they want to challenge for the title again next season.

Petit added: “In midfield I think they need to add at least two players. Someone who can play in [Martin] Odegaard’s position. We’ve got [Emile] Smith-Rowe but he hasn’t had much playing time in the last few months.

“A central defender as well. When you look at the big teams in Europe they’ve got four strong defenders to choose from. You need to have some competition for players to earn their place.

“They’ve got two right backs but [Takehiro] Tomiyasu has been injured for such a long time. Ben White has been tremendous but you cannot expect players not to be injured during the season.

“[Gabriel] Martinelli has been tremendous and [Bukayo] Saka as well, but you can feel, especially with Saka, that he’s been tired recently. [Leandro] Trossard can play as a right winger or as a left winger but you probably need one more player that can play on the wings.”

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