'We are not arrogant': Gareth Southgate comments on Arsenal-owned player in red-hot form

Now with 17 goals in 27 league games, Balogun has been sensational in France and the hype is building.

Whether Balogun can become a first-team player at Arsenal or not remains to be seen but its his international future in the spotlight right now.

Balogun was born in the United States to Nigerian parents and raised in England, meaning he can play for all three countries.

Balogun’s youth international career has mostly been with England, but he did play four times for the USA in 2018.

The striker’s goalscoring exploits are heating up this race and it sounds like Balogun could turn away from England…

MLS Insider Tom Bogert has reported on Twitter that he is hearing more and more rumours that Balogun is going to commit to the United States.

Balogun has been in Orlando in recent days and took up a photo opportunity with the Orlando Magic of the NBA.

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Balogun would surely become USA’s top striker immediately and rack up caps for years to come.

That may not be the same story with England though and Gareth Southgate understands the situation perfectly.

England boss Southgate has told The London Evening Standard that he isn’t just going to hand out caps to players in order to stop them playing for another country.

Southgate noted that it wouldn’t really be fair on Ivan Toney – who is scoring Premier League goals – to pick Balogun over him just to block off the USA.

Southgate admitted that he does like Balogun but there are strikers ahead of him in the England pecking order.

The Three Lions boss added that he and his staff are ‘not arrogant’ and don’t expect everyone to play for England, accepting that some players will go elsewhere in order to play right now.

“It is up to the player to weigh up where his heart feels,” said Southgate. “Is he prepared to wait a little bit for an opportunity if he backs himself and feels he can push his way into our squad? Because anybody who has followed us will know that we will give young players a chance.”

“So, we cannot go and give first-team call-ups to someone just because we don’t want them to go somewhere else. We like Flo. He has obviously not had an opportunity in the Premier League yet, so we have to weigh up those goals to Ivan [Toney], for example, or Ollie Watkins. Or Eddie Nketiah, who has done really well with the opportunity he has had at Arsenal.”

“I know there are going to be offers as 80 per cent of our players can play for more than one country now, and we are not arrogant expecting everybody to want to come to play for England. We have to make them feel wanted and feel part of that. Ultimately, it does not matter what you say. If you cannot give them the opportunity now, then some people are patient and want to see it through and are prepared to wait a bit and others want it now and I can totally understand that,” he added.

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