'The truth': Folarin Balogun says Arsenal had a youngster who was even more promising than Bukayo Saka
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Arsenal's academy has produced some top talents in recent years.
Bukayo Saka is arguably one of the best players in the world at this point, while Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah are shining at Fulham and Crystal Palace respectively.
Folarin Balogun is another Arsenal youth prospect who is shining away from north London, and speaking to JD Sports, the striker has been discussing is time at Arsenal.
Balogun has been discussing some of his former Arsenal teammates, and he says that Reiss Nelson was the most promising player he worked with during his time at Hale End, putting him ahead of the likes of Saka, Smith Rowe and Joe Willock.
Reiss Nelson was Arsenal's main prospect
Balogun spoke about playing alongside Nelson as a youngster.
"Yeah for sure there is a lot, especially at Arsenal, there is a myth with Hale End that players come through and go on to do good things," Balogun said.
"When I was young Reiss Nelson, he was the truth, he was skinning guys. He was only a year older than us, but a lot of us looked up to him. He was the main one, but you had Emile (Smith Rowe), Joe (Wilock) and Bukayo (Saka)."
Reiss Nelson still has potential
Reiss Nelson was so highly rated as a young player, and he still has bags of potential.
Unfortunately, the ship has seemingly sailed for Nelson to break through at Arsenal, but a bright start to the season at Fulham has given many hope that Nelson could still make it at the top level.
Nelson never quite lived up to that initial promise, being overtaken by the likes of Bukayo Saka in the Gunners' set-up in recent years, but that natural talent is still there, and we're seeing it during his loan spell at Fulham already.
Who knows? Perhaps a permanent switch to Fulham could be on the cards at the end of the season if Nelson continues to show promise for the Whites.
