It was inevitable that Albert Sambi Lokonga would go out on loan once Arteta had got in Arsenal’s much-needed backup to Thomas Partey, and he could be considered lucky that Patrick Vieira has agreed to take him under his wing at Crystal Palace.
He now has a real chance to prove that he can earn a worthy place in a Premier League side, and he has vowed to do his very best to get his Palace side to the top of the table, rather than sit on the bench at Arsenal.
‘It was not easy [to leave Arsenal] because as you can see they are top of the league, but for me the important thing was the confidence of the coach,’ Lokonga told Palace’s website.
‘I had him on the phone and it was a good opportunity to come here, to show myself and to help the boys reach their objectives.
‘He said to me ‘welcome’. He is going to push me to be a better player – I am looking forward to it.’
‘I would like to gain some minutes – I want to go as far as possible with the team,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to say a number, but I will try to push me and the team to do the maximum to reach the top.
‘I don’t want to speak about ranking; I just think we need to take it game by game. Try to win each game and that is how we will do something great.
‘Today I have been a lot in the car moving from left to right, but I’m fully fit – I am ready to start if needed on Saturday in the game [against Manchester United].’
So I will be following his progress closely this winter. It will be interesting to see if he is going to fight for his place, or moan that he is not playing enough….
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He needs games and a regular run in the team. We can then see his real potential.
Off Topic:
Leicester owner has just paid off £194m of Leicester’s debts to his holding company. Also did the same in 2013, writing off £103m.
They seem good owners, I wouldn’t like to see Leicester go down.
This seems a great move for all involved – Lokonga has the chance to learn from one of the great DMs and an Arsenal man as well.
Another great piece of recruitment business by the club.
*OT
Balogun on a hat trick. Get in son…👍🏾
The boy can’t stop scoring(14 goals,top scorer in Ligue 1).2 with the right foot and one with his left(a sweet half volley).it might be difficult for him to come back at Arsenal,just to sit in the bench??
Off Topic 2:
Sorry to hijack your thread!
Reported that Ziyech’s move to PSG didn’t go through because PSG didn’t receive the signed paperwork in time, so registration wasn’t completed with the French LFP.
PSG were critical of Chelsea failing to do their bit. Chelsea claim it was a technical issue that prevented it getting through but the LFP rejected the appeal and the transfer is off.
How hard is it for Chelsea to make sure an important document has been received? I guess they had so many going on at once their people were swamped, but surely that’d be standard procedure for a club.
It struck me as ironic – Ziyech was the first player Chelsea bought after their previous ban expired in 2020. Now that they have him on their books longer, their chance of another ban has increased.
According to some reports in France, Chelsea twice sent the right documents for with no signatures 🤔
Good for for all parties involved.
Good for Arsenal fc, Good for Palace, Good for Lokonga.
Hopefully Vieira molds him to be a direct replica of himself when he was with us.
ASL half-season loan spell to Crystal Palace from Arsenal is good for him. But as long as he sizes the opportunity availed him of the loan move with both his hands to improved vastly on his central defence game capacity at season’s end. Which if he turned out to be for him, it could make Arteta to have a rethink to not have him loaned out or sold next summer. But retain him in the team to see how he’ll perform during next season’s summer campaign. .
Really like this loan. He stays nearby in London, and is playing under an Arsenal legend, who can really teach him the midfield role.
Let’s be honest ,we are paying most of his weekly wage to loan him out to a club where I would imagine he does not get more than 5-10 mins per match if that.
I would be very surprised if he gets more and I would be even more surprised if he comes back a better player .
Just your bog standard loan that doesn’t do anything more than getting a player out of the squad where he had no chance to show how bad he actually is . Harsh yes .. but the truth .
And your source regarding us paying most of his wages?
Serious question as I’ve not seen it mentioned elsewhere.
Dan I don’t know which club or which combination of the two will pay his wages, but I ALSO do not see him making the grade at the level we need. At best, he may increase his transfer value a bit, and then we may have a sale fee which makes us something.
BUT I will be surprised if he ever plays more than a back up part in our shirt ever again, and even if he does, I DON’T SEE IT BEING FOR LONG AT ALL.
I hope he does and proves me wrong coz I’m not a fan of his. Always feel were playing a man down with him