Folarin Balogun of Stade de Reims celebrates after scoring (Image: Getty Images)
It’s fair to say Folarin Balogun wasn’t able to make quite the impression he would have wanted at Middlesbrough last season, but the Arsenal striker has quickly put the disappointment behind him this season while on loan in France at Reims.
He made 21 appearances in the second half of last season for Boro while on loan from the Emirates, but only 11 of those games were starts. There were glimpses on Teesside of the quality he possesses as he netted three goals and assisted three more, but he wasn’t able to do enough to convince Chris Wilder for more game time and Boro ultimately missed out on a play-off spot on the final day of the season. It’s fair to say his time in France is going very differently.
The striker recently netted his 17th goal of the season, making him the youngest player, at 21, to reach that amount of goals in their debut season in Ligue 1. Perhaps making more headlines is the fact he’s outscoring PSG superstars Lionel Messi and Neymar, and trailing Kylian Mbappe by only two.
[Source: gazettelive.co.uk]