Arsenal-owned center forward Folarin Balogun returned to action at club level on Sunday after withdrawing from the England U21 squad for their March internationals due to injury.

The Anglo-American-Nigerian youngster started and was in action for 78 minutes as State de Reims thrashed Moses Simon's Nantes 3-0 at the Stade de la Beaujoire .

Balogun was involved in Reims' second goal in the 39th minute when he set up Alexis Flips after a swift counter attack.

With the assist he registered against Nantes, the Hale End Academy graduate has now directly participated in nineteen goals (17 goals, 2 assists) in twenty eight matches in the Ligue 1.

Not taking into account the penalty he won on his home debut against Clermont Foot, it means that Balogun has participated in 48.72 percent of the goals scored by Stade de Reims in the French top-flight.

Only Lionel Messi (26), Neymar (24), Jonathan David (23), Kylian Mbappe (22), Alexandre Lacazette (21) and  Wissam Ben Yedder (21) have more goal involvements than Balogun in the Ligue 1 this season.

After surpassing Victor Ikpeba as the topscoring player of Nigerian descent in a single season in the Ligue 1, Balogun is now aiming to match Glen Hoddle's tally of 18 goals he recorded during the 1988-1989 season.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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