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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