Arsenal did West Ham huge £50m favour as dodged bullet becomes clear over Folarin Balogun

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Arsenal did West Ham huge £50m favour in the summer as a dodged bullet becomes clear over Folarin Balogun.

When Arsenal paid a then record £105m for Declan Rice in the summer it enabled West Ham to vastly improve their team.

The Hammers lost a much loved homegrown captain. But the cash from the Gunners meant they were able to sign the brilliant Edson Alvarez, star boy Mohammed Kudus and set-piece specialist James Ward-Prowse.

It was not the only way Arsenal helped West Ham financially in the summer, though.

Because Arsenal did West Ham a huge £50m favour as a dodged bullet becomes clear over Folarin Balogun.

Arsenal did West Ham huge £50m favour

Hammers fans will remember their club was heavily linked with a move for striker Balogun throughout the summer window.

David Moyes and Tim Steidten were desperately searching for a mobile striker with real pace and reports at the time claimed they settled on Arsenal’s third-choice forward Balogun after he had impressed on loan at Reims.

The race was between West Ham, Inter Milan and Monaco.

But according to The Daily Mail, when the Hammers made their approach to Arsenal, they were quoted an extortionate price of £50m to sell him to a Premier League rival.

Hammers dodged Balogun bullet

That proved well out of West Ham’s budget and in the end Balogun joined Monaco instead for around £35m.

Well it’s safe to say, Arsenal did the Hammers a serious favour.

Because Balogun has struggled to live up to his big price tag back in Ligue 1 this season.

Under West Ham fan Will Still at Reims, Balogun scored 22 goals in 39 games.

But the 22-year-old has just five goals in 18 games after his big money departure from Arsenal.

After West Ham face Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, Balogun comes up against reported Hammers and Gunners target Jean-Clair Todibo in the evening.

‘Maybe he needs time to adapt’

And the defender has admitted things have not worked out for Balogun at Monaco so far.

But he is backing him to come good.

“This season hasn’t been the best, but last year he was great with Reims, and he scored plenty of goals and he caused me lots of problems!” Todibo told Get French Football News.

“He is a pain to play against. He was very sought after in the summer, maybe he needs time to adapt.

“Once he has adapted and when his time comes, he’ll do great things.”

West Ham needed someone to come in and hit the ground running. But they were never going to part with £50m.

For that, they have Arsenal to thank.

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