Balogun and Pepi: American Strikers Poised for World Cup Success

Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi are walking into the biggest summer of their careers with goals, price tags and expectation all strapped to their backs.

One grew up in New York, sharpened his game in north London and rebuilt his reputation on the French coast. The other left Texas as a teenager, bounced through Germany and found his feet in the Netherlands. Now both are heading into a home World Cup with the United States, and the Premier League is circling.

Balogun: From Arsenal prospect to Monaco marksman

Balogun’s story has already taken in one of English football’s grandest stages. He came through Arsenal’s academy, the latest forward off a conveyor belt that has rarely been short on hype. The first team chances, though, never truly arrived: just 10 competitive appearances, two goals in the Europa League and the sense of a talent waiting to burst.

That eruption came in France. A loan to Reims turned into a breakout, 22-goal season that forced Europe’s elite to take notice. Monaco paid around €40 million in 2023 to make him their No. 9, and the 22-year-old has just finished his most productive campaign in the principality, hitting 19 goals across all competitions.

Those numbers matter. They paint the picture Brad Friedel sees when he talks about Balogun as someone ready for the glare and grind of England’s biggest clubs.

“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,” the former USMNT goalkeeper told GOAL, speaking in association with MrQ.

Seasoned. Not in age, but in European miles. In how many different ways he’s had to score to stay relevant.

Pepi: Title winner still fighting for a starting shirt

Pepi’s path has been less linear, more turbulent. He arrived in Europe in January 2022 with Augsburg, a raw striker thrown into the unforgiving rhythm of the Bundesliga. The adaptation took time. The minutes were not always kind.

The response? He moved again and grew again.

At PSV, Pepi has not been the first name on the teamsheet. He has, however, been relentless when called upon. He matched Balogun’s 19-goal haul this season while helping the Eindhoven giants to another Eredivisie title, a return that underlines how quickly he has matured in front of goal.

Friedel sees a forward who can thrive in England, but he chooses his landing spots carefully.

“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.”

Not a slight. A strategy.

“And I don’t mean that they have to finish mid-table, but they’re more mid-tier in terms of expectation and pressure. The teams I’ve mentioned, they’re fantastic clubs, but I think if he moved to a Manchester United or Arsenal, it would be too much for him, too quick.”

Pepi’s profile, in Friedel’s eyes, fits a certain type of Premier League project: ambitious, structured, demanding, but not suffocating.

Style, fit and the Fulham comparison

The conversation turns naturally to systems and styles. Friedel doesn’t just see talent; he sees templates.

“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 back into Fulham’s past to underline the point.

“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.”

A Premier League move for either striker would hardly shock him.

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

Balogun, he argues, has the armour to walk into a “big boy” dressing room. Pepi, he insists, has the tools to grow into one.

Pochettino’s dilemma: Who leads the line at a home World Cup?

Before any agents start booking flights to London, Manchester or the south coast, there is the small matter of a World Cup on home soil. Both Balogun and Pepi are vying to be the man who carries the No. 9 shirt into a tournament that could redefine American soccer.

Mauricio Pochettino will have the final say on who starts. Friedel, asked to step into those shoes, doesn’t hesitate.

“Balogun would be my pick,” he said. “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.”

Direct runs. Aggressive movement. A striker who stretches the pitch and drags centre-backs into places they hate.

Pepi, in that scenario, becomes the weapon off the bench.

“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.”

The conditions might force rotation anyway. A summer World Cup across the United States, Mexico and Canada will be brutal on legs already heavy from long 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. 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 opponents, different problems, different No. 9.

A warning named Turkiye

There is, in Friedel’s mind, one clear danger point.

“Hopefully, they have points in the bag by the time they play Turkiye,” he said. “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 backdrop to every decision Pochettino will make. Balogun’s vertical chaos or Pepi’s penalty-box poise. One starting, one waiting, both knowing that a single moment in a tight group could tilt the entire tournament.

And beyond that, another question looms: when the World Cup dust settles and the Premier League calls, which of these two American forwards will be walking into England as a rising prospect, and which will be arriving as a star?