Balogun and Pepi: Rising Stars Ahead of Home World Cup

Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi are walking into the biggest summer of their careers with goals, price tags and expectations all rising in sync.

Balogun, the New York-born forward once tipped as Arsenal’s next big thing, has already felt the weight of a major club. He came through the Gunners’ academy, flashed briefly in the first team with 10 competitive appearances and two Europa League goals, then had to leave to truly be seen. That happened in Reims. Twenty-two goals in Ligue 1 turned him from promising youngster into €40 million striker, earning a move to Monaco in 2023.

This season, he finally looked like a leading man. Nineteen goals in all competitions for Monaco underlined what many in France already believed: this is a forward ready for a bigger stage, and not just at international level.

Across the continent, Pepi has been building his own case. He doesn’t always start for PSV, but he scores. The 21-year-old matched Balogun’s 19-goal return while helping the Dutch giants to yet another Eredivisie title. Since arriving in Europe at Augsburg in January 2022, his curve has been sharp and upward, even if he has often had to do his work from the bench.

Now both are heading into a home World Cup with the USMNT, and both are starting to appear on Premier League shortlists. The timing is no coincidence.

Premier League doors opening

Brad Friedel, who knows English football and the American pathway as well as anyone, sees the same trend. Speaking to GOAL in association with MrQ, the former USMNT goalkeeper did not hesitate when asked if Balogun and Pepi are ready for England.

“Both of them could play in England for sure, depending on the size of the club,” he said.

That caveat matters. Friedel sees different entry points for each striker.

“I think someone like Pepi would need to be one of the mid to lower teams. Something like Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham,” he explained. Not because of quality, but because of context. These are ambitious, well-run clubs with strong structures, but without the suffocating glare that comes with a Manchester United or Arsenal.

“I think if he moved to a Manchester United or Arsenal, it would be too much for him, too quick,” Friedel added. In other words, Pepi needs a platform, not a circus.

Balogun, though, he places on a different shelf.

“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 – not being disrespectful of Pepi, it’s just his history in Europe.”

Balogun has already carried an attack in a top-five league and lived with the scrutiny that comes with a sizeable transfer fee. Pepi is still edging his way into that space.

Stylistic fits and Fulham echoes

Friedel’s analysis goes deeper than club size. He looks at style, at how a move would actually work on the pitch. Pepi to Fulham, for example, makes sense to him.

“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.”

From there, he reaches back into Fulham’s American history.

“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.”

It’s a neat line: Pepi as the next in a lineage of American forwards who have thrived in west London. A modern hybrid of penalty-box instinct and work rate, dropping into a team that already understands that profile.

Friedel is bullish about both players’ chances of adapting to the league.

“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 call at a home World Cup

Before any of that, though, comes the World Cup on home soil. For all the transfer chatter, the more immediate battle is for the No.9 shirt under Mauricio Pochettino.

Pressed on who he would pick to start, Friedel did not hesitate.

“Balogun would be my pick,” he said. The reasoning leans heavily on Pochettino’s long-established blueprint.

“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 runs in behind, stretches lines, lives off aggressive movement and quick, direct combinations. That verticality has been a hallmark of Pochettino sides from Espanyol to Tottenham.

Pepi, in Friedel’s eyes, becomes the second punch.

“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.”

Two forwards, two distinct tools. One to harass and break games open from the start, another to punish tired defences and dominate the area late on.

Conditions will play their part as well. Friedel expects rotation in the group stage.

“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. 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.”

Opponents, climate, and calendar all point toward shared responsibility rather than a single, immovable starter.

The Turkiye warning

Then comes the sting in the schedule: Turkiye.

“Hopefully, they have points in the bag by the time they play Turkiye,” Friedel warned. “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 where the margin for error disappears. A home World Cup, a demanding fanbase, and a technical, ball-dominant opponent waiting in the final group game. By then, the choice between Balogun and Pepi will not be a theoretical debate or a transfer-market projection. It will be a decision that could define a generation’s World Cup.

Two American strikers, one shared stage, and a summer that might send both across the Atlantic and straight into the heart of the Premier League.