Balogun and Pepi: American Forwards Eye Premier League After World Cup

Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi are walking into the kind of summer that can change careers.

One has already fought his way out of Arsenal’s shadow. The other has quietly turned himself into a title-winning No.9 in Eindhoven. Both are heading into a home World Cup with the United States. Both are now brushing up against the Premier League shop window.

And Brad Friedel can see England from here.

Balogun: From Arsenal prospect to Monaco spearhead

New York-born Balogun left Arsenal with only 10 senior appearances and two Europa League goals to his name, but his story in Europe really started in France. A ruthless 22-goal loan spell at Reims forced people to pay attention and persuaded Monaco to put down €40 million in 2023.

That price tag no longer looks ambitious. It looks about right.

Balogun has just completed his most productive season in the principality, scoring 19 times across all competitions and growing into the role of leading man rather than promising understudy. The raw academy forward has become a front-line striker trusted to carry a Champions League-chasing side.

Those numbers, that stage, that profile – they are exactly what turns heads in England.

Friedel certainly thinks so. The former USMNT goalkeeper, speaking to GOAL in association with MrQ, believes Balogun is built for the Premier League’s top end.

“With Balogun, I think Balogun could play at one of the big boys and deal with the perception and reality situation, because I think he would be deemed more of a seasoned player,” he said, stressing that the difference is about experience, not talent.

A “big boy” in England means walking into a dressing room where every missed chance becomes a talking point and every dry spell a crisis. Friedel is convinced Balogun has the maturity and European mileage to cope with that noise.

Pepi: Title winner ready for the next step

Pepi has taken a different route. Less spotlight, same destination.

The American striker arrived in Europe at Augsburg in January 2022, a teenager thrown into the unforgiving grind of the Bundesliga. It was PSV who unlocked his momentum. In Eindhoven, he has grown into a reliable weapon for a side that expects to win every week.

He matched Balogun’s 19-goal haul this season while helping PSV to yet another Eredivisie title. Not always first choice, not always the headline act, but always progressing.

Friedel sees a Premier League fit – just not straight into the glare of the super clubs.

“Both of them could play in England for sure, depending on the size of the club,” he said. “I think someone like Pepi would need to be one of the mid to lower teams. Something like Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham.”

That’s not a slight. It’s a diagnosis.

“They’re more mid-tier in terms of expectation and pressure,” Friedel explained. Manchester United or Arsenal, in his view, would be “too much for him, too quick”.

The logic is clear: let Pepi grow into the league at a club where development and impact can run side by side, not at a place where every touch is measured against a decade of history.

One potential landing spot already makes football sense to Friedel.

“I think Pepi was linked to Fulham, correct? And if you look at that, you see Raul Jiménez and his style and Pepi’s, they’re very similar. I think that would actually be a seamless transition.”

He reaches for a familiar American reference point at Craven Cottage.

“It’s almost like how Fulham had [Brian] McBride going and [Clint] Dempsey coming in. I know McBride was a little better in the air and Dempsey more on the ground, but Dempsey was still very good in the air and McBride still was too with his feet, so it’s very similar like that, the comparison of Pepi and Jimenez.”

Different era, same idea: an American forward who understands the physical rhythm of English football, who can scrap, link play, and still finish.

Friedel would not blink if either striker made that jump now.

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Balogun or Pepi in England next season,” he said, “and I think they could both be successful in the Premier League.”

Pochettino’s choice: Balogun first, Pepi in reserve

Before any of that can unfold, there is a World Cup to host – and a starting shirt to win.

Mauricio Pochettino will have to pick a No.9 to lead the line for the USMNT on home soil, with Balogun and Pepi both staking serious claims. Asked who he would favour in Pochettino’s position, Friedel did not hesitate.

“Balogun would be my pick,” he said. The reasoning goes back to the Argentine’s long-standing principles.

“If you look historically at Pochettino’s teams, he usually likes to have players who play very vertically and who are really dynamic, and that’s more of what Balogun is.”

Balogun’s game – sharp runs, direct movement, a willingness to attack space early and often – fits that template. He drags defences back, he stretches games, he gives a pressing system a spearhead.

Pepi, in Friedel’s eyes, becomes the perfect alternative weapon.

“And then to have the option of Pepi, who again will work really hard, but is very good in the box, good in the air, to come off the bench.”

That sounds like a classic tournament blueprint: one striker to run opponents ragged, another to punish them when legs and concentration dip.

The conditions will demand that kind of flexibility. The World Cup will be played in punishing heat, and both forwards are coming off long, intense club seasons.

“I could also see a little bit of a rotation in the group phase, because it’s also going to be very hot over here,” Friedel said. “And the players have just come off, those two especially, a long season. So you could see Mauricio maybe wanting to take a different tactical approach against Paraguay and Australia.”

Different profiles, different game plans. One eye on the thermometer, the other on the fixture list.

The Turkiye test

All of it, though, might come down to the final group game.

“Hopefully, they have points in the bag by the time they play Turkiye,” Friedel warned.

He has seen enough major tournaments to know how quickly a group can tighten, how a misstep against an awkward opponent can turn a final matchday into a knife-edge occasion.

“Because if they’re not careful by the time they get to Turkiye, and they have to win that match, Turkiye is a very talented possession-based team.”

That is the stage where a striker defines a World Cup – and sometimes a career. One chance, one moment, one finish that either sends a nation through or sends it home.

By then, Balogun and Pepi may already have secured their next moves, their Premier League auditions effectively booked. Or they might be playing for that platform in real time, with every goal against Paraguay, Australia, and Turkiye adding zeroes to a transfer fee and weight to a manager’s conviction.

Either way, the equation is simple: two American forwards, one home World Cup, and a Premier League door that looks ready to open. Who walks through it first?