England Under-21 boss Lee Carsley has held talks with on-loan Arsenal star Folarin Balogun ahead of the international break. The Stade Reims forward is having a stellar season in France under social media sensation Will Still and has made his name this term, outscoring Lionel Messi and Neymar in Ligue 1.
He won't be lining up with teammate Emile Smith Rowe or fellow England starlets Levi Colwill, Djed Spence and Noni Madueke, though, after pulling out of the Young Lions squad with injury. Balogun had been an outside shot at earning a first call-up for the senior squad after his form this season.
The decision to take time off from competitive action comes at a time in-which his international future is still very much up in the air. Despite playing 28 times for the Three Lions at youth level Balogun may yet still change his allegiance. Having been born in New York, he is eligible to play for USMNT.
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He has already featured for the country of his birth too, making a solitary under-18s appearance five years ago. Since then he has steadily risen through the ranks at the Emirates Stadium with his breakthrough campaign coming a key juncture for his career.
Carsley has played Balogun 13 times at under-21 level, seeing him score seven goals in that time, and confirmed talks he had with the player ahead of a heavyweight clash with France on Saturday. “I spoke to Flo on Monday, he obviously completed 90 minutes on Sunday, felt his right hamstring an injury that he’s had previously," the former Birmingham City midfielder said.
"The doctor has confirmed that with our doctor. So you can only take what they’re saying to be accurate. I then spoke to Flo on the phone, asked him if everything was OK. We spoke about the injury first, but then asked if he’s OK. Yes, fine. No problems."
There was no indication that Balogun is close to switching nationality though, despite an Instagram post from the 21-year-old appearing to show him in Orlando, the same city as Anthony Hudson's America side preparing for CONCACAF Nations League action.
“He didn’t give me any inkling that there was an issue or that he was thinking of doing anything in the future," added Carsley. "He said he is looking forward to the summer and all the rest of it so will obviously follow that up after camp. I’ll make sure that I go over (to France). I’ve been to France a couple of times now to watch the players and I’ll make a point of going over and meeting Flo.
“You can’t twist someone’s arms to play for England. You know we can only make him feel as welcome as we can. We rate him highly. We’ve supported him when things weren’t great. We called him into the 21s when he was playing for Arsenal’s Under-23s because I knew what potential he had.
“He had the loan move to Middlesbrough which was OK. He’s done excellent this season, he’s really going in the right direction if you think about the development that he’s on he’s going in the right direction and hopefully we can still be a part of that. He is is big player for us.”
There is also a question of what happens at the end of the season at club level too. Arsenal have had a brilliant year so far but have Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah in front of Balogun as well at Gabriel Martinelli being used in a makeshift role too. Having not yet scored in the Premier League, it would be quite the step to force his way into Mikel Arteta's immediate thoughts but Carsley is backing him to make prove a point.
“I’ve been watching quite a lot of (Ligue 1) this season because of the three lads that we’ve got there," he added. "Physically, it’s very similar. There’s a lot of athletic, very, very strong players there. And he’s done well. Who knows? I think given the opportunity I’m sure he would do very well.”
Arsenal and USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner has given the USA perspective on things too. "I've spoken to Flo," he said ahead of playing Grenada. "We obviously had most of our preseason together and I knew going into it that he had some roots in the U.S., so he and I developed a relationship pretty quickly. That's pretty much the extent of it. We check in on each other here and there.
"He'd be a great addition to our national team. I think he's done really well, obviously, for his club on loan, and we'll see. The decision has to come from the heart because it's not necessarily an easy task always to come and play in these CONCACAF games. It's a tough region at times. So for us, we'd be really grateful to have him but his heart needs to be in it."
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