Folarin Balogun became Ligue 1’s joint-top scorer in the early hours of Sunday afternoon, after scoring his third goal in three games.

Folarin Balogun made a fast start to life in Ligue 1, with a goal on his debut as a substitute followed by a goal in his first start, and he believed he’d made it three goals in three in the early minutes of Reims’ trip to Strasbourg on Sunday.

Bursting through the Strasbourg backline in the first five minutes, Balogun finished confidently, but his goal was ruled out for a marginal offside – confirmed by VAR.

Strasbourg then took the lead against the run of play, but Balogun finally got his goal in the form of a late equaliser.

Technology was involved heavily once again, as Balogun fired a shot home in the 81st minute.

The goalkeeper tried to claim the ball hadn’t crossed the line, but goalline technology showed that it had. There was then an offside check, but this time everybody was on.

Balogun’s goal for Reims, with VAR giving it this time #AFC pic.twitter.com/uAULwQ0T3V

— AFC LoanWatch (@AFC_Loanwatch) August 21, 2022

The result was that Balogun had his goal, putting him top of the Ligue 1 scoring charts alongside PSG’s Neymar, Lyon’s Tete, and Lens’ Sotoca. At least until the rest of Sunday’s games later in the day.

Balogun scored in Arsenal’s opening game of pre-season, but he didn’t get many chances to play after that. With Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah both impressing, Balogun’s best bet was always going to be to go out on loan this season.

With three goals in three games, he’s made the perfect start. If he can keep it going, perhaps he’ll be back to challenge Jesus and Nketiah next season.