Crystal Palace: Balogun could be Eagles’ Andy Johnson 2.0

Arsenal forward Folarin Balogun scored 21 times on loan at Reims in Ligue 1 last season and could be a dream signing for Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace have lacked a prolific goalscorer at Premier League level for a number of years now, but that may be about to change as they have reportedly entered the race to sign Arsenal forward Folarin Balogun.

Is Folarin Balogun staying at Arsenal?

Balogun has been with Arsenal for the past 14 years and made his senior debut in October 2020, but he has made just two Premier League appearances for the club.

After starring on loan at Ligue 1 side Reims last season, it has been widely reported that the United States international could be on his way out of the Emirates Stadium this summer.

According to CBS, Palace have joined London rivals West Ham United in showing an interest in Balogun, who The Sun reports is valued at £35m by the Gunners.

Balogun is currently part of Arsenal’s pre-season tour of the USA, but both the player and manager Mikel Arteta have admitted they are unsure what the future holds.

Where would Folarin Balogun fit in at Crystal Palace?

The 22-year-old enjoyed a season to remember on loan at Reims last season, scoring 21 goals in 37 Ligue 1 appearances to finish behind only Jonathan David (24), Alexandre Lacazette (27) and Kylian Mbappe (29) in the scoring charts.

To put that into some perspective, Eberechi Eze finished top of the Premier League scoring charts for Palace with just ten goals in 38 games. Next on the list was Wilfried Zaha with seven goals, followed by Odsonne Edouard (five), Jordan Ayew (four) and Jeffrey Schlupp (three).

Roy Hodgson could do with a prolific goalscorer, then, one that has not been seen at this level by Palace supporters since Andy Johnson in the 2004-05 campaign.

That was the last time a Palace player scored 20 or more goals in a Premier League season, with Johnson netting 21 in total to finish second only to Arsenal great Thierry Henry (25) on the list of top scorers.

Johnson scored at a rate of 0.57 goals per 90 minutes that season, as per FBref, which compares to 0.63 per 90 for Balogun at Reims last season.

Palace have had ten years in the top flight since then, and Christian Benteke (2016-17) and Zaha (2021-22) are the only players to have struck 15 times in a single campaign.

Balogun, having already done so at Ligue 1 level, looks more than capable of repeating the trick in the Premier League.

Described as an “ambitious” player by Arteta for wanting to prove himself away from Arsenal, Balogun ranked in the top 10% of all forwards across Europe’s top five leagues for goals scored last season, as per The Analyst, and in the top 10% for touches in the opposition box.

Ayew, who was Palace’s most-used forward last season, was in the bottom 9% and bottom 25% respectively in those two key attacking metrics.

As the seventh-lowest scoring side in the division last season, there is no doubt that Palace are in need of more goals. In Balogun, they have not only an upgrade on what they already have but a player who could finally replicate Johnson in hitting the magic 20-goal mark.