{"id":31062,"date":"2026-04-21T22:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/balogun-unexpected-goalscorer-who-could-dethrone-mbappe\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:42:22","slug":"balogun-unexpected-goalscorer-who-could-dethrone-mbappe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/balogun-unexpected-goalscorer-who-could-dethrone-mbappe\/","title":{"rendered":"Balogun, unexpected goalscorer who could dethrone Mbappe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ue-c-article--first-letter-highlighted\"><span class=\"capital-letter\">I<\/span>Overall, it hasn&#8217;t been a good season for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Real Madrid were eliminated from La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. To make matters worse, Vedat Muriqui is threatening his status as the league&#8217;s top scorer. He has scored 23 goals compared to 21 for Mallorca&#8217;s No.9.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Even his personal record is at risk. Folarin Balogun (New York City, 2001) can boast of being, along with the Real Madrid player, the only players to score in eight consecutive games in Major League Baseball this season. The record will be surpassed if Monaco&#8217;s number 9 scores against Toulouse<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s interesting. The former Arsenal youth player, who signed for $30 million in 2023, has already put Mbapp\u00e9&#8217;s status as &#8216;Pichichi&#8217; in jeopardy in the 2022-23 season. Balogun, who was playing for Reims at the time, finished Ligue 1 with 21 goals. Mbapp\u00e9 ends up scoring 29 points<\/p>\n<p>In the Principality, he never did well, mainly due to injuries. He scored eight goals in the 2023-24 season and four goals in the 2024-25 season. This season, by early November, the number had decreased by one to three.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>His departure became noticeable when Sebastian Pocognoli replaced Adi Hitter in mid-October. Of the 18 goals he has scored this season, 17 (12 in the league) have come under the direction of the former Union Saint Giroise manager.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He has improved his play with his back to the goal, improved his passing, improved his finishing&#8230; But he still wants to improve and is receptive,&#8221; Pocognoli said. &#8220;He&#8217;s a player who learns and is open to suggestions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"ue-c-article__blockquote\">\n<p>He&#8217;s improved his play with his back to the goal, his passing has improved, his finishing has improved&#8230;but he still wants to improve and has an attitude of acceptance.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__blockquote-author\">Folarin Balogun<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;He is more effective and we are giving him good passes. We are making the most of his characteristic of long balls into space, which suits him very well,&#8221; insists teammate Jordan Teze.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/>&#8220;I feel more free and more responsible,&#8221; said Balogun, who is eyeing a Ligue 1 goal streak. &#8220;Pocognoli is an extraordinary manager, he gives us a lot of ideas, creativity and freedom. He is also very demanding.&#8221; This record is held by Brazilian Sonny Anderson. The former Barcelona and Villarreal player scored in 11 consecutive games for Lyon in 2001. <span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/ligue-1\/2026\/04\/21\/69e77ed222601d8d768b456e.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IOverall, it hasn&#8217;t been a good season for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Real Madrid were eliminated from La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. To make matters worse, Vedat Muriqui is threatening his status as the league&#8217;s top scorer. He has scored 23 goals compared to 21 for Mallorca&#8217;s No.9. Even his personal record<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Balogun, unexpected goalscorer who could dethrone Mbappe - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/balogun-unexpected-goalscorer-who-could-dethrone-mbappe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Balogun, unexpected goalscorer who could dethrone Mbappe - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IOverall, it hasn&#8217;t been a good season for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. 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