Albert Sambi Lokonga has revealed a muscular injury has ruled him out of Arsenal’s training camp at adidas HQ in Germany.
The Gunners flew out to Herzogenaurach in Bavaria last night but the Belgium international has stayed in London to work on his fitness.
Writing on Instagram, Lokonga explained: “Due to a small muscular injury, I’ll sadly not be part of the summer camp with the team in Germany. I’m focus[ed] now on my recovery to prepare the season and be ready to help the team at my fullest capacity.”
The midfielder, who spent the second half of last season on loan with Crystal Palace, is tipped to leave the club in some form this summer. Sevilla and Burnley have both been linked.
Aside from Emile Smith Rowe and Nuno Tavares, who are on holiday after their involvement at the Under-21 Euros, and Matt Turner, who is on duty at the Gold Cup, Arteta’s 30-man squad has a very familiar look to it.
Those players who were injured at the tail-end of last season – William Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mo Elneny and Oleksandr Zinchenko – are all present and correct, as is Fabio Vieira who was struggling with an unknown ailment a few weeks back.
Most of the guys who were out on loan, including Auston Trusty and Folarin Balogun, have now been featured in photo galleries shared by the club although Nicolas Pepe is conspicuous by his absence. He may well be there and the club have decided he’s not worth any undue attention, who knows.
Representing the academy are Reuell Walters, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly. Kai Havertz remains the only new signing in the squad but he’s soon to be joined by Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice, probably in time for Sunday’s trip to America.
Sale?
Bye👋….. surely won’t wear an arsenal shirt again… doesn’t do anything extraordinarily well…
I must be the only one. But I’m not giving up on Sambi yet. I think there’s a really good player in there. He’s just a little sensitive and, as a result, prone to dips in confidence.
Really hoping he gets a loan move to be with Kompany again. I think that might just reignite his career.
😂you might really be the only one!
Have read almost unanimous praise of Lokonga right here during his first 6 months with the club. Where are you? Do you need 4 hats to remember what you have said?
Many fans have a soul – by this I mean they can sense when support is needed during difficult moments. Those who stuck up for Sambi (including myself) did so because there is no logic to berating someone and expecting that action to improve the outcome. I backed Sambi because he seemed a bit fragile and it was clear there is a player in there that could thrive – he may still do so – but from a tactical point of view I can’t see where he sits in the squad given the direction our tactics are headed. Then there… Read more »
Lol, I wasn’t saying to other fans “you praised Lokonga before, you were wrong in your assessment, own it!”. To the contrary, I am saying you praised him before so he does have qualities. There is always a fact-checking side to my comments so if facts are not on the side of the team, the manager or fans, my comments look negative but they are never heartless.
Apologies if I interpreted it wrongly, I can see what you you are saying now ✌️
You didn’t get anything wrong in your post about empathy. Some commenters are universally negative and I understand that’s how some people go through life. For me, Sambi doesn’t have the intensity to play in the PL. His style would be better suited in Serie A or League Un. Good luck to the lad.
We’re not a crèche. Not sure how many more chances he needs.
I think football fans do have slight amnesia when it comes to performances.
I can remember Xhaka getting injured / banned and quite a lot of the fanbase being jubilant as finally Sambi would get a run in the team.
In general, he did fine. Then that big mistake came against Liverpool and he definitely did dip after that.
But the lad was playing the TP role at 21. It’s the toughest role in the side.
Fabio Vieira’s form massively dipped towards the end of his debut season but I don’t hear too many people saying he should go.
He lacks the same thing that ESR does that might scupper both their chances to play for Arteta’s Arsenal: Defensive (off the ball) Intensity.
ESR has clearly been pumping a lot of iron during his injury rehab.
Look at him now compared to when he first broke into the team. He is now built like the proverbial brick shit house; I suspect the defensive part of his game will drastically improve.
That’s great news. Intensity, or a lack there of, is easy enough to fix. You just work on stamina and short sprints.
And then light a rocket up their arse before every game.
Sambi has everything physically and technically he needs. I think we just need to sort his head out a bit.
He shies away from contact IMO which you can’t do as a midfielder. Technically gifted on the ball, it’s his off the ball lack of intensity that has created doubt in the managers mind.
If they bought Sambi as a 6 in training behind Partey and not as an 8, he obviously didn’t impress the manager that he will make it as a 6, so he’s rotated out of the squad. I like the decisive decisions the manager is making rather than waiting years to get to the same conclusion.
Sambi was signed a year prior… fans had a better frame of reference for appraisals. Also, I’m not sure Fábio Vieira’s struggles went unnoticed… he came under scrutiny himself and it’s widely recognised that he needs a big second season.
Good luck to him – genuinely – but at this point I think it’s quite clear he’s not up to par and won’t get the game time required to prove otherwise. Definitely a good passer but never looked like breaking lines or shielding the ball with any kind of consistency and often played with a stark lack of conviction and awareness… disappointing for someone who captained his former club at a young age and received some notable commendations. I don’t think his outspokenness about lack of game time and subsequent non-performances endeared him especially well to the fans…
He actually moves the ball along in a nice unfussy Paul Davis kind of way, but, like Davo, I could never see Sambi grabbing a game by the nuts and sending the crowd home with something memorable. Davis, to my mind, did this only twice in well over a decade at the club; a goal (against Forest?) that he started deep in our own half at the clock end before finishing with a spectacular diving header at the north bank and the time when he chinned Glenn Cockerill when we played Southampton at Highbury at the start of 1988/89. I… Read more »
Not about sale even Nicolas Pepe isn’t fully fit after his injury yet.
“Those players who were injured at the tail-end of last season – William Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mo Elneny and Oleksandr Zinchenko – are all present and correct, as is Fabio Vieira who was struggling with an unknown ailment a few weeks back.”
Not a word on Martinelli anywhere I can find.
Martinelli is there and fine, there’s a nice clip on the site with him being greeted by Win, and he’s also in the training video.
When is the club going to announce the flipping signings of Rice and Timber?!
Come on!!!
When they are done, I guess.
It takes so long it can kill the excitement for the players themselves.
waiting to free the No 5 shirt, otherwise it’s 12, 22 or 28
The bloke who used to proof read the Peter and Jane Ladybird books back in the 60’s is now an Arsenal lawyer.
Here is the party of the first part.
Here is the party of the second part.
The party of the first part wears claret and blue.
The party of the second part wears red and white.
The party of the first part has a ball.
The party of the second part has a dog.
The dogs name is Win.
Peter likes Win.
Jane likes Win.
Win is wondering when the fuck Declan Rice is going to sign.
Oh, I used to love those Peter and Jane books when I was a kid!
Nostalgia’s not what it used to be!
Yes Sir !
Josh, we demand to be excited right now!
Hopefully this is a small issue and he’s fit to go to America, it’s a pity he’s missing out though as he’s a player who needs to get up to speed quickly,
Yeah we all know that “injury” he’s talking about…
huh?
Do we?
Presuming Patino also didn’t travel.
Ruling yourself out of preseason seems a little silly.
Unless you’re secretly working on a deal to Saudi?
He’s a nice player but too nice will have a job to get I’m ahead of Josh Cullen . What Cullen lacks he had in application and heart and decent skill and that will be downfall of Sambi, he needs slower pedestrian paced football or his lack of urgency and speed will cost him . See Chris Smalling, Giroud etc perform in Seria A , a spell at Atalanta or likes would suit him best . Looking forward to seeing Trusty and Balo in these upcoming games . I think Trusty is a great contender for the LCB LB role.in… Read more »
A move would suit all parties. A shame as I thought that he could potentially work his way into the team with his technical ability.
Would take some for him to train the patterns we have been developing with Mikel but he could do it.
He is a ready made player for some teams though. Likely French Ligue Un
Conversely, I expect Vieira to develop well and we will see either a lot more of him this season. Or he will thrive on loan ready to come back to us as a productive attacking midfielder.
I like how he comes inside from a wide position. Same with Odegaard, if he can get more shots off, he will improve his value massively.