Originally Posted by
I am invisible
These things tend to come down to nothing more than being in the right place at the right time sometimes. I remember everyone giving us grief for letting Yaya Toure slip away, but the reality was he had the Invincibles' midfield in front of him at the time, so who would you have dropped to give him minutes?
With Saka and ESR, the stars have almost lined up perfectly for them, and they've hit first team readiness just as we've found ourself really short on quality in their areas. For Balogun the route into the side looks tougher - he's up against the likes of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Martinelli.
It's so annoying because I really think his path to the first team will suddenly open out this summer - we just need that extra 6 months to be able to clear a path for him, but unfortunately that's just what we don't have. What can you do though? HAt 19, he's already got a reputation for running down his contracts to strengthen his hand, so I don't think this situation is entirely the club's fault - if he's not showing any signs of committing then of course we're going to give the minutes he wants to someone who either has a future here or who we can boost the value of and sell for a profit.