Folarin Balogun took to social media on Saturday to express his confusion at not making the PL2 Player of the Season nominees, despite being top scorer.

The Premier League 2 announced their Player of the Season nominees earlier this week, with one notable absentee – Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun.

Balogun scored 10 goals and assisted four in 15 appearances this season, making him the joint-top scorer in the top division this season. He was level with Jamal Hector-Ingram (who did get a nomination) for goals, but with more assists in fewer games.

The Arsenal 19-year-old posted on Twitter to react to the news.

Wtf ?! 🧐🤣 https://t.co/CuQ47I5V1y

— Balogun (@fbalogun67) July 25, 2020

Now, it’s worth mentioning that the Premier League Football Development Panel do seem to take into account first-team involvement when making the decision. I’m not sure why, given this is a PL2 award, but they do.

As a result, Balogun’s lack of an Arsenal debut probably counted against him. On the other hand, it’s not as if many of the other nominees had particularly major impacts on their first teams.

Liam Cullen played 35 minutes for Swansea. Jahmal Hector-Ingram played six minutes for Derby. Rayhaan Tulloch played 32 minutes for West Brom. Nathan Holland played 116 minutes for West Ham before going on loan to Oxford United.

Billy Gilmour (Chelsea) and Curtis Jones (Liverpool) both completed over 500 senior minutes, and they certainly deserved their nominations. But the rest were really only cameo appearances.

Anyway, it’s a shame for Balogun after a good season. I hope we’ll see him play another one with the Arsenal u23s, get some first-team minutes and win the award next year. But the signs don’t look good.