When Folarin Balogun arrives for his individual training sessions, his coach, Saul Isaksson-Hurst, has learned to be flexible. He can have a detailed plan mapped out, but Balogun, an intense and analytical character, tends to bring his own ideas.

"He's very serious and he's very driven," Isaksson-Hurst tells Sky Sports. "He'll sometimes come and say, 'look, I want to do this'. He's not backwards about coming forward with what he wants to work on. We'll often discuss it and have a back and forth.

"He challenges me as much as I try to challenge him. But it's great to work with him because he always brings it, that mentality, that intensity. You know you're doing a session with a top, top player because it's always at 100 per cent."

It is a revealing insight into the mind of a player who has taken an active role in his own development, typified by his decision to enlist the help of Isaksson-Hurst following a difficult loan spell with Middlesbrough while he was still a teenager at Arsenal.

Balogun returned having only scored three goals in 18 Championship games. He was determined not to let it define him. "He wanted to do more. He wanted to get better," explains Isaksson-Hurst. "He was a very targeted and aspirational type of guy."

Their first sessions took place that summer. "We had an intensive few weeks of training in London, really focused on him as a profile, that number nine, that fox in the box who's great at finishing. Both feet, movements, timing of runs. Those sorts of things."

Balogun's subsequent success on loan at Reims, where he scored 22 goals in 39 games, showed the value of the extra work. Now 25, he has been training with Isaksson-Hurst ever since, booking in sessions in the off-season or during breaks in his schedule.

His devotion to his craft has paid off.

Balogun found himself at the centre of a political storm following his red card at the World Cup but showed his quality at the tournament with three goals. He is now being linked with a return to the Premier League with Everton, three years after leaving Arsenal for Monaco, where he has scored 31 times in 91 appearances.

His career has been a story of bold decisions. Balogun left his comfort zone with his move to France, initially with his loan to Reims, then switched his international allegiance from England to the USA.

"He just wants to play at the highest level he can, on the biggest stage possible," says Isaksson-Hurst, who works with several top players having previously been an academy coach.

A return to the Premier League would put him back in the spotlight.

"I don't see him struggling under that pressure. I think he'd excel under it. It's what he looks for. He wants that. He has always sought that out. That's why he challenges himself to do extras, to get those marginal gains and be the best player he can be."

Balogun's World Cup form was a continuation of an impressive scoring streak at Monaco, where he finished the campaign with 11 goals in 14 games, sparked by a double in a Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain in February.

But he has had to come through difficult moments since his £35m move from Arsenal in 2023 too. There have been injury problems and periods in which he has struggled to hold down a starting spot. Balogun, though, has a long history of overcoming adversity.

His time at Arsenal ended in frustration but he is fondly remembered by academy staff as a tireless worker.

At Middlesbrough, he made a similar impression on former manager Chris Wilder and his assistant Alan Knill, who were struck by his mental strength despite the difficulties he encountered there.

"It's part of the game," says Isaksson-Hurst. "He needed those challenges to help him develop and hopefully become one of the best players in the world."

Isaksson-Hurst has observed the hardening of Balogun's mentality over a period of several years. He describes it as the most striking aspect of his development as a player.

"I think he's obviously always had that raw talent. He's always been a natural finisher. He's really worked on refining that and he's also developed other areas of his game, his timing and movements, the way he comes into the box and his link-up play.

"But seeing him as a young man to a man now, I think seeing his mentality has really stood out, how he's made that journey. He was always really ambitious. Like I said, he contacted me in the first place because he wanted to do more.

"But seeing him in the last block of sessions we did showed how serious and focused he is in terms of wanting to be one of the best number nines in world football and wanting to put the work in and prove to everyone that he can do it at the highest level."

That mindset has kept Balogun on track even when circumstances have been challenging. He also benefits from being a profile of a player, as an out-and-out striker who comes alive inside the opposition penalty box, increasingly rare in top-level football.

Everton are not alone in their need for a reliable goalscorer.

"Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in football," adds Isaksson-Hurst. "But his ability off both feet and in the air as well is top. That's not easy because there aren't that many number nines around.

"A lot players playing as number nines aren't real orthodox number nines. They're sevens or 11s playing as nines. Flo is a natural, a fox in the box who can finish. Give him half a yard and he's going to punish you. That's what sets him apart from everyone else."

Coupled with the mentality that has driven the restlessly ambitious Balogun to this point, it is a dangerous combination.