Folarin Balogun has confessed ‘no door is closed’ as he prepares to make a decision on his future with Arsenal.

The 21-year-old striker has excelled during his loan spell with Stade Reims in Ligue 1, firing home 17 goals in 27 games, but will return to Arsenal in the summer as the French side do not have an option to make the move permanent.

When he returns to the Emirates, Balogun will have just two years remaining on his Arsenal contract and will rejoin an attacking group that features both Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah already.

90min understands that Arsenal currently have no plans to offload Balogun in the summer but are prepared for crunch talks with the England youth international before making a final decision, and Balogun himself has confirmed as much.

“Contractually I have to go back,” he said. “Because the loan was only for one year so that was always the agreement.

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“But I wouldn’t, um, I’m not sure what is going to happen in the future. A lot could happen in football, a lot could change, and it just depends on the conversations we have between me and the club in the summer, and we’ll see what happens.”

Asked whether his future could be in France, Balogun responded: “Yeah I mean there’s no door that’s closed.

“Of course I have had a good year here and to a lot of people it makes sense for me to come back here. So yeah I mean I don’t know what the future will bring. But definitely I would advise young players to come out here. It’s a really, really tough league, a league that will help you to improve. You get to play in crazy atmospheres. If you’re ready to take yourself out of your comfort zone, I would advise any young player, I would advise any young player to come here.”

Internationally, Balogun has been called up to the England Under-21 setup after missing out on a place in Gareth Southgate’s senior side, but the United States have spoken with the striker about switching allegiance.

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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the race to sign Jude Bellingham, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham future, Roy Hodgson’s return to Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland’s contract, Mason Mount & more!

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!

Anthony Elanga has confessed to feeling frustrated towards his reduced role at Manchester United this season.

The 20-year-old winger was a regular starter towards the end of last season but has tumbled down the pecking order under Erik ten Hag, starting just five Premier League games and struggling for minutes in cup competitions as well.

There were plenty of rumours suggesting Elanga could leave United in January, with the likes of Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund both touted as suitors, but a move ultimately failed to materialise and the Sweden international has remained on United’s bench.

“It is frustrating,” Elanga told Afton Bladet. “You want to play. It is important. But if you don’t play, it’s not up to me but up to the coach.

“I have spoken to Erik and it is private between the two of us. I know what he wants me to do and I can just keep training hard. When the opportunity comes, I just have to be ready to take it.

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“We have a lot of dialogue, not only about it but also what is happening around. That’s the good thing about the club, we talk a lot and they help me a lot.
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Elanga also confessed that talks were held over a move away from Old Trafford in January.

“There was talk about it, but right now I’m focusing on United,” he stressed. “We still have a big season ahead of us and need to finish it as well as possible.

“That was in January, now I can’t focus on it. The best I can do is focus on the rest of the season, then I get to talk to the club. I love the club, but it’s important for me to play. I’m still young. We have spoken to the club and they know what is required and I know what is required.”

LISTEN NOW

On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the race to sign Jude Bellingham, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham future, Roy Hodgson’s return to Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland’s contract, Mason Mount & more!

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!

The Argentina FA have confirmed that their training base, the Ezeiza Housing Complex, will now be named after Lionel Messi.

Previously named after former FA president Julio Humberto Grondona, the complex hosted a ceremony on Saturday to comemorate Messi in front of a selection of his previous teammates.

“Welcome to the house of the world champion,” FA president Chiqui Tapia told the crowd. “Welcome to the house of all our National Teams, the house that gave identity to Argentine soccer around the world.

“Today is a very special day for our house, I think one of the most important in terms of management. In 2017 we had to start to re-found Argentine football, and within what we had to re-found was building management, and we found ourselves with this building that was not closed, with unfinished projects. Today we know what it is for, we started with the internal enclosure, external structures…, without a doubt it will become the new home of our National Teams.

“This building will have three hotel floors for our National Teams; it will have a training and high-performance centre with medical equipment; it will also have amenities, wet and dry recovery rooms, an auditorium for 360 people. It is propitious that today we all share together the uncovering of the foundation stone of this building and this property.

“Some leaders said that we did it late, but I think not, like the moment we recognised our house in Viamonte as ‘Diego Armando Maradona’. Today is not only the inauguration of this project, but also that of this Sports Housing Complex in Ezeiza that from today will carry a new name: ‘Lionel Andres Messi’.”

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Messi later took to the stage to thank those in attendance for the tribute.

“Thank you all very much for being here,” he began. “I am grateful to Chiqui for this recognition, it is very important to me.

“I have been coming to this property for 20 years and since I entered I felt a very special energy. Until today, every time I enter, I feel a very particular energy in this property. I have had hard times, but even in those moments, entering here meant forgetting everything, it was arriving and feeling happiness for being in this place, the same thing I still feel.

“I feel very I am happy that after so long this is going to bear my name. I am one of the people who think that tributes have to be made in life, and I think this is a very special recognition for all that this property means, for the amount of players who pass by. Passing by here and knowing that it will bear my name is something very nice.”