COMMENT: If he spoke French instead of English. If he came through at Clairefontaine instead of Hale End. And if he'd had his first taste of senior football at Metz instead of Middlesbrough. Then what price would Folarin Balogun fetch today...?
Familiarity. Contempt. And whatever inbetween. Balogun's exploits with Reims deserve greater press. Dominating the goalscoring charts. Breaking record after record. Yet it appears it's not enough to get Premier League clubs interested. A contract to 2025 with Arsenal could be reasoned as a factor. But with stories floating around of Mikel Arteta seriously considering cashing in on his young centre-forward, you'd expect transfer talk to follow.
But it's been crickets. And it's a situation that makes little sense. 15 goals in 23 games for Reims this season. 14 in Ligue 1. Balogun sits top of the French goalscoring charts. Ahead of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Alexandre Lacazette. Indeed, he's also ahead of Terem Moffi. Remember him? West Ham United and Southampton both made attempts in January for the centre-forward before Lorient agreed to send him on-loan to Jim Ratcliffe's Nice. But why did Moffi drive all those stories and clicks during the winter market and not Balogun?
One factor could've been the Middlesbrough loan. Two goals in 18 appearances. A spell which offered little of what we're seeing today. Perhaps managers and scouts in England made their judgment on Balogun from that first senior run on Teesside. First impressions can often last...
But the exploits of Balogun this season should put all that to bed. Indeed, beyond rival Premier League interest, where's Gareth Southgate and his England scouts? Where's the press calling for Balogun to be capped ahead of Nigeria and USA - nations that he also qualifies for. Again, if Balogun was a 21 year-old French striker dominating as he is in Ligue 1, you'd fancy there'd be a mountain of transfer stories swirling around him every week in England.
In France, Balogun certainly doesn't suffer similar neglect. He's long been celebrated by teammates, opponents and pundits. For those who've been there, done it and have the t-shirt, Balogun is the real deal.
Benjamin Nivet, the former Troyes midfielder, says: "What most strikes observers with 'Balo' is the great variety of his game - plus the composure necessary to finish well.
"But he is also efficient in small spaces, because he is technically correct, always at the right tempo and knows how to combine, especially on the break."
Former Lyon star Jimmy Briand also told L'Equipe, “He is physically impressive and technically very clean.
"He has an impressive sense of goal for his young age."
And Djibril Cisse, of course formerly of Liverpool and Sunderland, goes even further: “He is a very complete striker, both solid on his feet and equipped with good speed, performing with his back to goal, able to participate in the game and one who moves quickly.
“He is able to score with the right foot, with the left, is skilful on penalties and with the head, even if it is perhaps in this field that he must improve the most. I recognise myself in him in his 'instinctual playing side."
These three ex-pros could be talking about Hugo Ekitike or Elye Wahi. But they're not. Instead they're lavishing praise - deservedly - on one of Arsenal's own. A player who has come right through the Hale End system. And who now is performing as good, if not better, as any attacking player in the country.
And that's on the pitch. At Reims, on the training grounds, inside the locker room, they regard Balogun as a "young leader". A personality confirmed after two years of scouting.
"The 14 goals, yes. The 14 goals after 21 games? I'm not going to lie to you, no ...," laughed Pol-Edouard Caillot, Reims' sporting director, last week when discussing Balogun.
"We had already tried to sign him when he was young, and I fully understood that he wanted to continue at Arsenal. And then when he was out of contract [in 2021].
"When he was available on loan, the fact that we have been around him for years, and that we are sure of his profile, that has helped.
"Arsenal were convinced by our project: a young team, the development of players between 19-21 years old. He could have gone to the Championship, or elsewhere in Europe."
Talent and potential is one thing. But as Caillot reveals, Balogun arrived with the right attitude and a determined approach. His instant impact in Ligue 1 drawn from the way he immediately tackled this new challenge.
"He signed with the Arsenal badge, we are only Stade de Reims," recalled Caillot. "But we found a player with a superb mentality, who was not going to take himself for a superstar. He integrated quickly. He is a very perfectionist on a daily basis, programmed to be a great striker. He arrived with his cook, full of details that has led to where he is now."
And where he is now is top of the scoring charts. Appreciated by his adopted club. And celebrated by hard-to-impress pundits. And all on foreign soil.
Just what price would Folarin Balogun fetch from a Premier League club today if he was French raised instead of English...?
