Barca, Spurs and Aston Villa want Folarin Balogun
A good performance at the World Cup is guaranteed to elevate the profile of any player, and that is precisely what happened this summer with Folarin Balogun.
The striker crowned his World Cup with a brace in the 4-1 win against Paraguay, was instrumental in the team’s opener in the next game against Australia and was on target against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32. He finished as the USMNT’s top scorer at the tournament and attracted a host of suitors.
Those standout performances have now put him firmly on the radar of a number of major clubs including Barcelona, Aston Villa, and Tottenham.
Monaco coach Filipe Luís isn’t surprised at all. “I know he’s going to receive a lot of offers given his last season and his World Cup performance. He’s a special player. You don’t find many players on the market with his attributes. If he stays, I’ll be really, really happy to have him with us,” the Brazilian said after the preseason win over Getafe earlier this month.
According to L’Équipe, both Barça and Aston Villa have joined the list of clubs eyeing the Monaco forward. Just days ago, reports surfaced that Tottenham had already opened talks with Monaco, with early figures landing around $65 million (€60 million). That’s quite an increase on Transfermarkt’s current market valuation of $55 million (€50 million).
In Catalunya, Balogun is viewed as a strong option to reinforce Hansi Flick’s attack after the departures of Robert Lewandowski to Orlando City and Ferran Torres to PSG.
Barcelona had their hearts set on landing Julián Álvarez, but it is going to be almost impossible to prise the Argentine away from Atlético. And expensive - a $584 million release clause that is 10 times what Balogun would cost.
Barça have several options in attack: Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, Karim Adeyemi and Anthony Gordon can all play through the middle, but they are wide players. What the team lacks is a finisher - like Balogun.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, view Folarin as a potential replacement should Ollie Watkins head to the Saudi league.
With the transfer window closing on September 1, Balogun is shaping up to be one of the headline names in the final days of the market.
His contract with Monaco runs until June 2028, and the Principality club has full control over his future until then. That said, it wouldn’t be the first time that Monaco decides to cash in on one of their stars - offers were accepted for the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Aurélien Tchouaméni, James Rodríguez, Anthony Martial, Bernardo Silva, and Fabinho... with the profits used to rebuild the squad.
