Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly hinted at a decision over Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun, who has been linked with a switch this summer
It comes as the Blues have been linked with a move for the USMNT international ahead of the final few weeks of the transfer window. Balogun impressed in his loan spell with Reims last season in Ligue 1, ending the campaign as one of the top scorers in the entire division.
It has naturally led to plenty of interest, with a place in the squad with his current side seemingly unlikely at this point in time. football.london understands that Arsenal would be open to a sale if a club meets the right price, with other reports claiming a valuation has been set at £50million.
football.london also understands that the north London outfit rejected a recent bid from Monaco at roughly £34.4million, with a club-record sale in mind. It tees up an uncertain few weeks for Balogun, who recently missed out on the squad to face Nottingham Forest.
Chelsea's interest could offer a brand new opportunity to the striker, given their recent change of approach to focusing on developing young talent. Despite that possibility, it seems as though Pochettino has hinted that a striker signing may not actually happen this summer.
Speaking ahead of his side's clash with West Ham this weekend, the new head coach told reporters when asked about strikers: "We are working, of course. We are looking at all of the options that we can manage on the market. We can see the potential. But I think at the same time, we are keeping one or two eyes on Armando Broja.
"We cannot forget him. We cannot stop him. We really believe in him – we know how important he can be for Chelsea. We need to be careful. I think it's a big disappointment with the situation of Christoph, because he should be a really important player for us and to help Nico Jackson score goals.
"That is football and we need to accept that situation. Sometimes we cannot go for some player that maybe we already have. We need to be patient and adapt our squad and get positive results while waiting for Armando to be fully fit."
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