Will Still puts a number on bold Folarin Balogun goals target at the start of the season

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Reims boss Will Still has revealed the number of goals Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun targeted scoring before the start of the season.

Currently, the Hale End graduate has 16 goals in Ligue 1, making him the joint top-scorer in the French top-flight. Other than Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (19) and Lille’s Jonathan David (19), no other player in the league has more goals than the Gunners talent.

But now, Will Still has lifted the lid on how many goals Folarin Balogun planned to score when he joined Reims on a season-long loan from Arsenal.

Will Still reveals the number of goals Folarin Balogun aimed to score at Reims

Considering the youngster is flying in France, it is not a surprise that he is reportedly valued as highly as £50 million. In addition, the ‘incredible’ 21-year-old goalscorer is rightly being heralded as he has impressed at such a young age in one of the most physically demanding leagues in Europe.

Now, Will Still has told Arsenal themselves how many goals Folarin Balogun intended to score at Reims before campaign began.

“At the start of the season, I was the assistant coach and the board came and told us towards the middle of August that Balo was going to come and join us. And we just sat down and had an honest conversation about what’s the first objective.”

“What are we looking at doing? How far can you get? His first message was: ‘You know, Will, I want to get to 10 goals as soon as I can.’ And then, when we got to 10 goals, then it was like: okay what’s the next step? What are we pushing on for now? I think his next goal is 20.”

It’s safe to say that as Will Still said, Folarin Balogun has smashed that target and is only likely to aim for more goals until the end of the season. And the fact that he even aimed for 10 goals is an insight into his tigerish mentality.