Albert Sambi Lokonga has been struggling to establish himself at Arsenal for much of this campaign, yet the Belgian is set to remain at the Emirates for the rest of the season.
Mikel Arteta has been more impressed by other midfielders, meaning Sambi Lokonga has seen very few minutes of action.
The Belgian will be wise to leave the Emirates at least on loan so he can start playing more often. However, a report in the Daily Mail reveals Mikel Arteta’s side has rejected an approach from AS Monaco for the Belgian midfielder.
Arsenal needs to sign a midfielder and has just lost Mohamed Elneny to potentially a season-ending injury.
Because they are now light in midfield, Arteta has decided to keep Sambi Lokonga in his squad for the rest of this season at least.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Sambi Lokonga hasn’t lived up to the expectations at the Emirates since he moved to Arsenal, which is one reason the midfielder has played only a few games for the club.
However, he is still just 23 and has more than enough time to get better, which is why it is smart for us to keep him in the group.
With Elneny facing a spell on the sidelines, the ex-Anderlecht man could play more games in this second half of the season.
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No surprise, really short of numbers in midfield now with Elneny’s injury. As someone who originally thought we needed a CM to step in for Xhaka when needed because of Lokonga poor more than a DM, I’m in no doubt that is no longer the case, the question is who is gettable though?
Zubimendi, Caicedo, Amrabat are quality options but will all be difficult to negotiate with their respective clubs especially at this late stage of the transfer window. Cheaper alternatives like Bamba and McKennie I’m not too sure about.
How is no one looking in the Nigerian wilfred Ndidi for a DM. He had slot in in Parteys position with ease
Swap Sambi with Patino
And get a good replacement for Elneny
And we have a complete team
Yes, Patino is ready and the answer!
This kid won’t develop properly without adequate game time, he needs to go out on loan now, there are lots of young talent that are quite ahead of him in their development.
Lots of talents out there , Weston McKinney, Ibragima Mamba, Onana, Igor Zubeldia , Martin Zubimendi and Sander Berge.
Maybe Edu needs to hand me the rest of that war chest.
He could use a loan and I expect that will happen next year regardless but loaning him now means bringing in two midfielders with a short time left in the window.
With us having eyes on preferred targets in the summer who won’t move now it makes little sense to buy two for the sake of it and then be in an awkward position in the summer where we have the 2 new players, Lokonga and maybe still want to add another to the Xhaka/Ode/Partey/Vieira midfield. We’d then have Xhaka/Ode/Partey/Vieira/Lokonga/New signing 1/new signing 2 add-in ESR/Patinho and we start to run into trouble if we want to buy a guy we think is better than new signing 2.
Your argument make a lot of sense, however am really disappointed with this kid he seems not to improve one bit.
I really do think he’s talented but somthing just not clicking with him, maybe he could be push up a little further but I do think the loan is the best option.
I understand your point though the squad is still thin.