Arsenal to let young striker depart despite facing a month without Aubameyang

Arsenal suffered a third straight defeat away from home in the Premier League on Monday evening, as Demarai Gray’s last minute screamer gave Everton victory at Goodison Park. 

Mikel Arteta’s side surrendered a lead, an all-too-common occurrence for them this season, and have now fallen to seventh in the table.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed opportunities after being introduced from the bench, while young striker Eddie Nketiah missed the chance to mark his first league appearance of the season with a goal as he squandered a glaring opportunity late on, shortly before Gray’s winner.

Arteta continues to face selection headaches up front, with Aubameyang struggling of late in front of goal, and both Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette set to be out of contract next summer.

Balogun could spent the second half of the season elsewhere despite Arteta’s lack of striking options

The duo’s situations have fuelled speculation that they will be allowed to leave in January, however that now seems increasingly unlikely as the Gunners are set to instead let another striker go out on loan, as per The Athletic.

The report claims that youngster Folarin Balogun will be sent out on loan when the window reopens in the new year, despite Aubameyang being expected to miss most of January due to his partaking in the African Cup of Nations with Gabon.

Despite this, Balogun will reportedly be allowed to secure a six-month loan spell away from North London, although his destination is far from agreed.

The feeling within the club is that the player will benefit immensely from a spell of regular first-team football.

The England under-21 international was handed a shock senior Gunners debut on the opening day of the season as both Aubameyang and Lacazette were out, but has not started a game since.

He has, however, been prolific for the club’s under-23s side, scoring 12 times in 16 games so far.