‘Better than Werner’: Some Arsenal fans hail youngster’s U23s display last night

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A number of Arsenal fans have waxed lyrical about Folarin Balogun following his latest goalscoring heroics for the Gunners Under-23s.

The 20-year-old Gunners striker is one of the brightest youngsters to come through the Hale End ranks in recent years.

Many Arsenal fans were thrilled when Balogun put pen to paper on a new long-term contract in April following months of negotiations.

However, the talented marksman still remains on the fringes of the first team, largely plying his trade for the Under-23s.

To date, Balogun has made nine senior appearances for Arsenal, but just three have come this season.

Indeed, Mikel Arteta hasn’t given him senior game time since September.

There isn’t really much more than Balogun can do to stake a claim for a spot in the Arsenal first team.

Fans have been urging the Gunners to at least send him out on loan in January.

On Friday, he once again reminded everyone of his quality.

Balogun was given the captain’s armband for the Premier League 2 home meeting against Derby.

The Gunners fell to a 5-3 defeat at the hands of their opponents, but Balogun weighed in with an impressive hat-trick.

Derby opened the scoring after just three minutes, but the Arsenal starlet found the top corner with a brilliant first-time finish six minutes later.

Balogun then made it 2-1 with a close-range effort after an error at the back.

The visitors scored again to make it 2-2 by the break, before netting three more early on in the second half to make it 5-2.

Balogun’s hat-trick goal proved a mere consolation in the end, but what a strike it was – a ferocious effort into the top corner.

Needless to say, Arsenal fans were delighted and exasperated in equal measure: