Gareth Southgate has responded to the speculation around Folarin Balogun’s international future by suggesting the striker needs to be patient.

Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun withdrew from the England u21 squad this week, after reporting an injury to the national side.

This withdrawal sparked some speculation, given that after the England squad was announced without Balogun in it, he posted on Instagram: “In life, go where [you’re] appreciated.”

Balogun is eligible for England, Nigeria, and the U.S., and he’s spent the rest of the international break in the U.S. in Orlando, where the USMNT are holding their training camp.

Responding to that series of events, England boss Gareth Southgate suggested they aren’t going to rush players into the side to keep them away from other national teams.

“It is up to the player to weigh up where his heart feels,” Southgate said. “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.”

There’s obviously an implication there that Southgate values Premier League participation much higher than Ligue 1 football.

Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins, and Eddie Nketiah can’t match Balogun’s league goal tally of 17 this season. But they’re all playing in the English first tier, and that’s clearly important to Southgate.

Despite some rumours to the contrary, Balogun doesn’t seem to have made a final decision on his future just yet. Whether he’s willing to wait for Southgate to draft him in remains to be seen.