Worth the wait? Bounced out of Arsenal and into relative irrelevance in France, USMNT's Folarin Balogun is on a path to redemption - and tenuous opportunity for 2026 World Cup

It became pretty clear, pretty quickly, that Balogun shouldn't be playing for Reims. He was too good for mid-table football, and needed to be in a side pushing for Europe. Champions League standard wouldn't have flattered the then-22-year-old. However, Arsenal made it clear that there was no place for him in their first team.

Balogun insisted that he be sold. There were multiple suitors, but the Gunners flipped him to Monaco for a fee that could rise to almost $50 million if the right add on clauses were hit. 

That same summer, Balogun was in the midst of deciding which country he might represent. With Harry Kane as the clear No. 9 in England's ranks, there was little chance he would earn any time for then-manager Gareth Southgate. Balogun's identity - as international football approaches these things - had always been a bit complex. He had represented both England and the U.S. at a youth level, and also held Nigerian eligibility.

If the England door closed, there were options.  His international future became a source of speculation. There were videos circulating on social media of a shadowy figure training in Florida. Rumors ran rampant. It became clear that Balogun was, at the very least, flirting with the U.S.

It became official in summer 2023, when Gregg Berhalter named him to a squad. All the pieces were in place.

Monaco already had striking options. Ben Yedder, then 33 and hampered by off-field problems, was still their captain and best goalscorer. Balogun was, in the French club's eyes, one for the future. And he played like a raw talent still finding his feet.

It didn't get off to a great start. Balogun's first real involvement as a Monaco player was to get booked (correctly) for diving (badly.) He found the net against Lorient, but followed that by missing two penalties in a 1-0 defeat five days later in his first start for the club. 

The underlying numbers weren't bad, though. Balogun was in and out of the starting XI - a prospect always difficult to navigate for a No. 9. He managed 0.64 goals and assists per 90 minutes, an agreeable mark - and slightly behind that of  Yedder, who played 600 more.

He slightly underperformed his expected goals, but was otherwise clinical in the chances he did get - penalty misses notwithstanding. There was something to work with here - at the very least. 

The 2024 Copa America, meanwhile, showed promise of what Balogun could yet be as a footballer. It was a disastrous campaign for the U.S., overall, as the team failed to advance out of the group on home soil. Very few players came out of it looking good, and the tournament failure eventually cost Berhalter his job, and led to Pochettino's hiring.

Balogun, though, could hold his head high. He played in all three group games, and scored in two of them. 

More broadly, that run continued what had become an agreeable trend for the USMNT No. 9. He scored in the Nations League Final in 2023. He chipped in elsewhere. Five goals for the USMNT is not enough for any striker of any quality (just ask Josh Sargent).

Yet Balogun's overall skillset - the ability the run in behind, the raw physicality, the clinical nature in front of goal - make him a threat simply by presence alone. Berhalter bought into that concept. Would Pochettino?

Meanwhile, back at Monaco, things were starting to look up. Balogun managed seven goals in 29 Ligue 1 appearances, mostly in a backup role in 2023. Monaco released Yedder after the forward. The club had finished second in Ligue 1, and were set to play in the revamped edition of the Champions League. 

Their transfer activity - or lack thereof - suggested that Balogun was entrusted with the role of being the main man. Nigerian No. 9 George Ilenikhena was brought in from Antwerp of the Belgian league, but in a largely cut-price deal. Monaco didn't have an established goalscorer. They believed that Balogun could become one. 

But an inability to stay on the pitch hampered that aim. He found the net twice in September 2024, but then - right when he was rounding into form - dislocated his shoulder in a Ligue 1 fixture. The club elected for him to undergo surgery. Balogun hardly got a kick by the time he had recovered, and finished the league season with just four goals in 10 starts.  

Monaco, meanwhile, invested in promising forward Mika Biereth, another London-born dual national, who showed promise through the middle. He now plays for the Danish national team, and bagged 13 in 16 games to finish the Ligue 1 campaign. Balogun was under pressure. He still is.

Of course, that limited his USMNT availability. While Balogun floundered on the sidelines, Pochettino cycled through his striking options. Josh Sargent, Ricardo Pepi and others all got a look. Pepi, in particular, impressed, scoring in Pochettino's first game in charge and developing an excellent understanding with Christian Pulisic.

Strikers such as Damion Downs, Patrick Agyemang and Haji Wright were also handed opportunities. Balogun is perhaps forunate that Pepi had injury issues of his own and no one else quite stepped up to the same degree. 

And so we arrive at the present day. Balogun has started both of Monaco's Ligue 1 fixtures. He scored in the most recent one. After negotiations with the club, he was allowed to join the U.S. squad for the September friendlies. And it will be an intriguing few days.

Sargent has also been named in the squad. He has been in fine form for Norwich of late - and, with six goals in five games, is the consensus favorite to win the Golden Boot in the EFL Championship. But he also seems to forget how to play football when he laces up his boots for the national team, having not scored for the USMNT, remarkably, since 2019.

"I'd probably be lying if I said I didn't think about it," Sargent said. "Of course, I know it's been a while. I'm doing so well at the club level at the moment, I just keep reminding myself how well I'm doing there. I know I can score goals, and I know it's a matter of time before I'm going to score for the national team, so just going to put my head down and keep working hard. And you know, I know the goals will come." 

Balogun, then, has a window of opportunity. No one has seized the spot that he appeared to have, in effect, handed to him two years ago. Bad luck and poor form have relegated that 21-year-old - who was, albeit briefly, better than Kylian Mbappe - to the past. But there might yet be a brighter future.