Loan watch: Balogun breaks 47-year-old record for Reims

Folarin Balogun

Loan watch: Folarin Balogun breaks 47-year-old goal record for Reims 


By Ben Hart

Arsenal’s loanees enjoyed a fruitful weekend across Europe. One youngster even broke a goal record which had stood for 47 years at his new club.


Elsewhere, there were debut goals, first starts and injury absentees. Read below our top three stars of the week, as well as a full round-up of each player hoping to impress away from north London.

 

Folarin Balogun

 

Folarin Balogun continued his fine start in Ligue 1, scoring for the third straight game and setting a new club record for loan side Reims.

 

The 21-year-old has become the first Reims player since Jacques Vergnes in 1975 to score in each of his first three matches for the club.

 

With three rounds played in the French top-flight, only Neymar and Kylian Mbappe have scored more goals than the England youth international.

 

Balogun’s latest effort, against Strasbourg, earned Reims their first point of the season after heavy defeats against Marseille and Clermont, games in which Balogun also netted.

 


Nuno Tavares

 

Staying in Ligue 1, Nuno Tavares could not extend his purple patch in front of goal to three straight games, but he did play the full 90 minutes as Marseille beat Nantes to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

 

The wing-back has impressed since joining Les Phoceens and has nailed down a place in Igor Tudor’s starting line-up ahead of former Gunner Sead Kolasinac.

 


Tyreece John-Jules

 

Tyreece John-Jules capped a memorable debut for Ipswich Town with a brilliant goal in The Tractor Boys’ 3-0 win over Shrewsbury Town.

 

Just 22 minutes into the game at New Meadow, the 21-year-old, wearing the no.14 shirt, won possession 40 yards from goal, drove towards the area and darted between two defenders before a cool finish into the corner. The win took Ipswich a point clear at the top of League One.  

 

Tyreece John-Jules

Best of the rest in Europe

 

Elsewhere on the continent, highly-rated midfielder Marcelo Flores made his first start for Real Ovideo in their 1-0 triumph over Leganes in the Spanish second division, Alex Runarsson made his debut for Alanyaspor in a 1-1 draw with Sivasspor, Omar Rekik was an unused substitute for Sparta Rotterdam’s 1-0 loss to Ajax and Pablo Mari was absent for Monza’s 4-0 loss to Napoli with a muscular problem.

 


Football League stars

For the second time this year, Brooke Norton-Cuffy will head north to gain more experience, with Rotherham United entrusted with developing the 18-year-old for the duration of the 2022/23 season. He could make his first appearance on Tuesday night when The Millers host Morecambe in the EFL Cup.Elsewhere in the Championship, Auston Trusty started his fifth straight league game as Birmingham City went down 1-0 at home to Wigan Athletic.
 
It has been a frustrating start to the season for Harry Clarke and Charlie Patino, with both sidelined for Stoke and Blackpool’s games respectively.
 
Further down the pyramid, Arthur Okonkwo was helpless as Crewe Alexandra let a two-goal lead slip against Northampton Town, while defender Mazeed Ogungbo started his third consecutive game for Crawley as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat to AFC Wimbledon.

North of the border

In Scotland, defender Alex Kirk is enjoying life at Ayr United. On his first start for the Honest Men they beat Cove Rangers 2-1 to move top of the division, with Kirk at the heart of the defence.

And finally, defender Ryan Alebiousu was unable to prevent Kilmarnock’s third straight defeat as they dropped to bottom of the Scottish Premiership. 


Photo credit: Getty Images

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