Revealed: Why USMNT ace Folarin Balogun had to use Eurostar for extra training away from Arsenal

The 22-year-old striker is unlocking full potential at present, having left Emirates Stadium for Ligue 1 giants Monaco in the summer of 2023. That switch was secured on the back of a productive loan spell at Reims in 2022-23 that delivered 22 goals.

Balogun is now a full international with the United States, with two CONCACAF Nations League triumphs taken in with the USMNT. He is still working on his game, with the lengths he has gone to in order to maximise his talent being revealed.

Saul Isaksson-Hurst – who has worked at Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal – has told Football Insider of how Balogun sought assistance from him when the Gunners were unable to meet his needs: “Flo came to me just after his loan at Middlesbrough to work individually. I wasn’t working with the club at the time, but we did some intense work on the pitch and off the pitch with analytics. That went really well and the season after we worked together he went to Reims and became one of the top goal scorers in the league. Now he’s onto Monaco where he’s doing really well.”

Isaksson-Hurst added: “His situation [at Arsenal] was similar with Noni Madueke [at Tottenham] and Reiss Nelson, who I worked with as well at Arsenal. These are top pros but the irony is, even within those world-class environments, they don’t get so much of the individual time to work on what they’re really good at. I suppose that’s why they come and see me to really reinforce and focus on that. Flo would be doing a finishing session at Arsenal, but there would be six or seven other players there and it may not be specifically on what he needs to work on. Flo used to come back on the Eurostar on his days off to do sessions and then go back. He’s another really committed young pro.”

Balogun made just 10 competitive appearances for Arsenal, as he faced fierce competition for attacking berths, but has hit eight goals for Monaco this season as he works on becoming more clinical – with a few missed penalties blotting his copybook in 2023-24.