Surprise Arsenal man can be shown the door
According to Italian news outlet TuttoMercato, AC Milan are monitoring Arsenal’s Albert Sambi Lokonga.
The midfielder made a £15 million switch from Belgian side Anderlecht last summer. From the looks of the deal, it clearly appeared like a medium to long-term signing by the Gunners.
Despite a good beginning to life at the Emirates Stadium, the 22-year-old ended up making just 12 starts in the last Premier League campaign.
🇧🇪 AC Milan are looking at signing Albert Sambi Lokonga who would be allowed to leave Arsenal. [@marcoconterio].
— TheAFCnewsroom (@TheAFCnewsroom) August 10, 2022
With the arrival of Fabio Vieira from Portuguese outfit Porto, and the constant links to another midfielder, you can only wonder how many times the youngster will feature for Mikel Arteta’s team this season.
Lokonga failing to establish himself as an influential piece in Arteta’s jigsaw puzzle has certainly alerted clubs across Europe who believe that there’s a deal to be done.
Even though Milan have snapped up Charles de Ketelaere from Club Brugge, they hope to add another body at the center of the park.
And according to the report, they have identified Lokonga as a perfect player.
Sambi Lokonga on the possibility of new midfielder coming to Arsenal:
"If I was scared of competition, I would've not signed for Arsenal.
It's part of football. Competition can get you better." #AFC pic.twitter.com/RhqriPSezY
— Le African Gooner (@leafricangooner) August 3, 2022
If Arsenal receive an enticing offer for the Belgian, I won’t be surprised if they let the former Anderlecht man to leave the Emirates Stadium.
The North London outfit have been linked to AC Milan’s Sandro Tonalli, and it will be intriguing to see whether there are any talks of a swap deal involving both the players.
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What do you think? Do you think Lokonga should be given more time at Arsenal? Let’s have a discussion in the comments section below!
Good loan deal I would say. With Zinch, Ben White, Partey, Xhaka and Vieira all able to play there and our low rotation policy I don’t see him getting much game time.
Not a bad idea.
Nonsense, it was shut down immediately yesterday that he’s not going anywhere and he knows he’s part of Arteta’s plans.
Another incoming midfielder will oy means he gets to go out on loan MAYBE
We’ll need him in cup comps. He’s also a good option from the bench on match days. He should stay.
One condition is like the article stated a possible part exchange + cash for Tonali. That in my opinion is the only reason to let him leave.
A C Milan, all Day on a permanent deal.
But on a loan option has to be a championship side, the most competitive league outside the Prem and for it to work for Sambi got to have playing time. The midfield needs some more work Tieliemens would be good addition. Prem ready with lots of expo.
I’d be very surprised if there are legs to this story as Sambi is a good player and I’m sure he will get chances this season with the amount of games we have to play. He can cover a few positions in midfield and defence especially if Xhaka or Partey gets injured or suspended.
Lokonga should stay he is a promising star
Future time not now so it’s better he goes out on loan to earn more playing tym n experience
Give them lokonga and bring in tonali from AC Milan that guy machine. We need to challenge for EPL this season.
Needs selling IMO
Form what I saw last season not good enough .
Send him on loan to a Championship side for him to gain more exposure & experience. Overall he’s a great cover for Xhaka & Partey as a defending and attacking midfielder. Either way he’s a very potential asset for the Gunners also bearing in mind the many competitions ahead of us this season…
when asked to step up last season he gave serious quality cover and to me looked like an upgrade to a misfiring Partey.Would be madness to let him go permanently. He will be a top top player
Another rumour that is plainly false and has already been discredited. I wonder why such uninformed writers ever bother writing such obvious tosh!
Hard to understand sending players out on loan, but buying new players to fill positions. Where do all of these loaned out players fit in once their loan spells are over? Best to just sell them outright and buy new players. If they’re supposed to be “one for the future”, then keep them in the team, give them match minutes and let them assimilate that way. Sending players to Championship teams(the square ball league) doesn’t always guarantee them the match mins. needed to hone their skills. Best we kept them and utilise them in the squad, considering the competitions we’ll be playing in…IJS
Apparently Chelsea had 60 players on loan a few years back .
Stockpiling at its best 😂
@Dan Kit
I remember that. They bought players as soon as another team was interested in them. They then sent them out on loan. Thing was, they made a killing off those very same players…
In general with young players, you don’t pay their wages, may get a fee as well and if they have a good season their value goes up. See Willock or many many Chelsea youngsters. With older players it’s usually simply mitigating costs for players who you can’t sell at their value. We are seeing this issue for a lot of clubs due to the pandemic effect on club finances particularly outside England.
In Lokonga’s case it would make sense if we did given Elneny has been given a 1 year contract. He could go and simply come back filling that spot in the squad so we wouldn’t be loaning him and signing replacements in that case. Further Xhaka and Partey are no spring chickens so makes sense to have a plan for the future.
Lokonga injury free at best gets 20-25 games. There is only 6 guaranteed Europa starts and then whatever easy cup games we get reliant on us actually progressing. Outside that looking at injuries/suspensions for the league, short of having a breakout season. Could easily be much lower than 20. If you find the right club and they are willing to play him then he gets 40+ injury free like Saliba last year.
If we have 6 CM’s on books which we will if we sign one more and Zinchenko/ESR capable of playing in CM then surely we have enough cover for the competitions we are in.
Depends on what our plans are in the market still and where the club feels Lokonga is currently at developmentally. Is he about to break out (there were some positive vibes coming out of preseason) or could he simply do with minutes and experience.
I don’t believe a word of it. Arsenal need cover and don’t want him to go, and Sambi wants to stay and fight for his place. Italian media hype. Also can’t see Tonali having legs in it. He’s a superb prospect – no way Milan will let him go, and as we know, most Italians want to stay in Italy or if not go to Spain. Can’t blame them if you compare climates, lifestyle and the pace of the game!
Depends if we have another CM lined up or not. With a new CM plus Viera/Ode/Xhaka/Partey/Elneny we are well stocked with ESR/Zincheko available too. If we feel consistent games is key for him it could make sense. Like Nuno he’s had a year and knows what is expected, could easily work on learning our tactical approach in his own time whilst away gain experience/confidence.