Gareth Southgate has insisted he won’t call Folarin Balogun up for England just to prevent him from committing to the United States.
Balogun’s international future has been a huge talking point over the past week after the striker seemed to indicate his disappointment at not getting an England senior call-up, was called in and then subsequently withdrew from England’s U-21 roster, and was then spotted in Orlando where the USMNT is based over the international break.
The 21-year-old, who is eligible for England, the USMNT and Nigeria, has seen his stock soar this season on loan at Reims, where he’s scored 17 league goals.
But Southgate indicated that the on-loan Arsenal man may get dinged in his book for not proving himself in the Premier League yet.
“It is up to the player to weigh up where his heart feels,” Southgate said at a press conference. “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.”
Watkins and Nketiah, notably, did not make the cut for the current England squad.
The USMNT, meanwhile, continues to put on the full-court press to land the New York-born striker.
“It’s been an opportunity for us just to share about our program and who we are, and what we do,” interim coach Anthony Hudson said last week of Balogun’s trip to Florida. “And again, hope we get the chance to speak with him again. It’s been good to me, and I know a few of the guys have spoken to him as well.”
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