Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun is set to snub interest from elsewhere and commit his future to the club, manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed.
The 19-year-old looked set to leave the club when his current deal expires this summer with a number of clubs around Europe linked with pre-contract agreements for the player.
But Arteta has confirmed that the club have managed to persuade the highly-rated Englishman to stay.
“We’re going to make it official once everything is done,” he told his press conference ahead of Thursday night's Europa League clash with Slavia Prague.
“As I said, I’ve always been very positive that he wants to stay at the club. We want him to stay at the club so, we’re very close.”
It has been a drawn out process with negotiations between club and player underway for more than a year.
Asked how the club persuaded him to stay, Arteta added: “We just tried to, first of all, understand why he got to the point that he was really thinking about leaving the football club after being raised here and the feelings he’s built towards the club.
“Once you understand his position, you try to explain what you want to do, how involved he’s going to be in the project and how and then get the full commitment from the club and support.
"And Edu, who has done an incredible job as well.”
