Well, finally. After several weeks of garbage sources and ITK circling around this idea, we finally have some real reporting about Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s suggested interest in Monaco and USA international striker Folarin Balogun. French paper L\u2019Equipe, in a multi-byline article that includes journo Lo\u00efc Tanzi, writes that Spurs have \u201claid the groundwork for a discussion\u201d about Balogun in what remains of the transfer window.<\/p>\n
Now, if you read the above and think \u201cwell, that sounds pretty nebulous,\u201d well it is! But it\u2019s coming from L\u2019Equipe and Tanzi who are at least a couple of reliability steps above the gutter rumor-mongering where this story has existed for the last while.<\/p>\n
Balogun, 25, is the most prolific scorer on USA\u2019s national team (yaaay!) and is also a former Arsenal player and graduate of their academy (booo!). He had his breakout year in 2023 when he scored 17 goals on loan at Reims, and was subsequently sold to Monaco. Last season he scored 19 goals in 45 appearances in all competitions for Monaco. That includes 5 goals in 10 Champions League starts, including a brace in a 2-3 loss at PSG in the first knock-out round. While my go-to source for advance statistics is down at the moment, his raw shooting numbers are nothing to sneeze at, though they have the \u201cin French football\u201d caveat.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also an American hero, and a lot of people reading this blog will remember what he did in the World Cup this summer and be very excited about the possibility of him lining up for Spurs. Tactically he excels in a pressing style, which should suit him well under Roberto De Zerbi, and he\u2019s a willing presser and defender, notably while playing at Reims. He can hold the ball up well and is adept at making late runs into the box, but his best performances have come in a counter-attacking system, and De Zerbi is more likely to want to have and keep the ball at Tottenham.<\/p>\n
Is he a guaranteed scorer? Hard to say. He\u2019d be pretty cromulent, I\u2019d say, though he\u2019s be a less high-profile option than some of the other players Spurs have been linked to in this window. The Premier League is a lot tougher and more physical than Ligue 1 so there would likely be some adjustment should Spurs opt to bring him in, but I do think he has the physicality to adapt and be successful at a club like Spurs. But it\u2019d be more of a gamble.<\/p>\n
Mostly this article is just an excuse to talk a little bit about Balogun. Spurs haven\u2019t had an American on its squad for a while now, and signing Balogun would certainly turn a lot of USA eyeballs Tottenham\u2019s direction. That\u2019s not a bad thing, but nor is it a particularly compelling reason on its own for signing Balogun. There\u2019s not a whole lot of THERE there in this particular rumor, and that should be considered. But this is some pretty tasty red meat for a fan base that\u2019s clamoring for some attacking reinforcements. Folarin Balogun may not be the slam-dunk young attacking signing that everyone wants, but I think he could be a pretty nice cog in Roberto De Zerbi\u2019s machine. Let\u2019s not get too excited just yet, but keep an eye on this rumor now that it\u2019s emerged from the Bat Country cloud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, finally. After several weeks of garbage sources and ITK circling around this idea, we finally have some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,101,52146,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-734998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gb","tag-sports","tag-tottenham-transfer-news-rumors","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}