Folarin Balogun will stay with Arsenal this season and leave on a free transfer next summer with no plans to extend his contract.

The Beautiful Game Podcast reported at the start of October that Folarin Balogun will leave Arsenal on a free transfer next summer. He’s staying with the club for the current window, after failing to secure a move elsewhere, but he doesn’t plan to extend his deal.

Sheffield United were the primary club in the race this summer, but they ended up signing Rhian Brewster instead.

The Arsenal academy striker trained with the first team recently, for the first time in a while. The club was seemingly holding Balogun back from senior training sessions due to his decision not to sign their contract extension offer.

As a result, they put him up for sale and kept him training with the u23s.

Folarin Balogun senior comeback

However, despite the senior comeback, Balogun remains more likely to leave. Perhaps there’s been some reconciliation between player and club, but clearly not enough to change his mind unless Mikel Arteta giving him his debut was the first step towards proving he really should stay at Arsenal.

It’s certainly no bad thing to see the striker in senior training again, and even better to see him get actual senior minutes. It may still generate some interest for the January transfer window, at least. If not, Balogun will join a new club next summer for nothing.