According to The Telegraph, Burnley are in talks with Arsenal over a loan move for Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Should a deal be finalised, the 23-year-old would reunite with compatriot Vincent Kompany; his former coach at Anderlecht and someone who previously compared his quality to Yaya Toure.
There were high hopes for Lokonga when the Gunners snapped him up from Anderlecht two years ago but he’s not been able to establish himself at Emirates Stadium where his credentials as a holding midfielder have been tested to the limit.
Following the acquisitions of Declan Rice and Jorginho, and the decisions to retain Mo Elneny and Thomas Partey, it seems clear the Belgium international is not in Mikel Arteta’s plans for the season ahead.
Lokonga spent the second half of last season on loan with Crystal Palace, a move that looked good on paper, but he ended up spending most of his time on the bench after manager Patrick Vieira was replaced by Roy Hodgson.
At this point, he clearly needs regular game time to rebuild damaged confidence.
While it won’t be easy forcing his way into the Burnley starting lineup – the Clarets, now rebranded as an exciting football outfit, ran away with the Championship last season – the attraction of playing for a manager who clearly rates him is there for all to see.
News of Burnley’s interest in Lokonga comes quick on the heels of moves by Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United for Matt Turner and Auston Trusty respectively. Now that the club have returned from the recent tour of the USA, they are making a concerted effort to slim down Arsenal’s bloated first team squad.
A loan *sigh*. Come on Vincent, if you rate him so highly then put your money where your mouth is and buy the lad.
No, then he’s bound to play a blinder against us.
A successful loan is the only way we’re going to increase his value back up to anywhere near what we paid for him. Makes sense.
Tbf he still has 3 years left on his deal and should have his wages covered by Burnley. A loan with a manager who trusts him really could make a huge difference and boost his value for next summer, a bit like Willock.
Came highly recommended by Vincent Kompany! Insert a buy back clause, obligation to purchase or whatever…just show us the money….Back to sender@Vincent Kompany 😀
Maybe Arteta needs to stop recruiting on recommendations. Lokonga’s case seems understandable. I don’t think he is trash either but Runnarson, what was that about?
Runnarson cost like £1million, just taking a gamble on a cheap squad filler
I believe Martinelli was a recommendation. They are not always bad.
Martinelli was Edu signing. He knew about Martinelli from his days/contacts as Technical Director for the Brazil FA team
Pretty sure it was Francis Cagigao who made that signing happen, and the club had been watching Martinelli since before Edu got his job.
All recruitment is based on recommendations be it scouts, directors, coaches, players or agents. No one person in a modern football set up has overall control
I remember Arsene in an intervieuw saying a good friend of his recommended a player in the third tier from France. He said it was his biggest regret not signing that player. Turned out to be N’golo Kanté.
All ballon d’or winners nearly signed for Wenger as a 16yr olds.
I believe Ronaldo was 17 at the time
If it works well, we have a ready-made replacement for Elneny next season. If not, we get what we can from his sale. I wish him well at Burnley, although he’s likely to play the bulk of the games on the back foot; and that does not seem to fit his skill-set that much.
Goven Burnley steamrollered the Championship and it was Kompany who worked with him before, to the point he earned a move here, I would wager he’d do just fine there.
I once almost got a good beating in Govan for wearing a green jumper.
Hope he’s able to fulfil his talent with Burnley. Felt like he joined us at a bad time.
I think that is spot on. I remember of a few of his early games where he looked really promising. Arguably the best player on our team in a few of the games. But then we got in to that really bad spell up to around Christmas, which as I recall ended when ESR was finally brought into the team and we beat Chelsea 3-1 at home which proved to be a turning point. A lot of players suffered at that time, and Sambi as a new, young player form a smaller league overseas, unsurprising suffered more than most, and… Read more »
He wasn’t even at arsenal during the season we beat chelsea 3-1 around christmas was he? Thought he joined the following summer with White, Ramsdale et al?
With the exception of my good friend Gangnom Lamboda, Sambi Lokonga is the only person I know with two names that almost sound like popular dance routines.
What about Christoph Waltz’s daughter, Cha-Cha Waltz?
I stand corrected. I’ve just remembered my great cousin on my mother’s side… Agadoo Macerano.
There you go. And don’t forget Dortmund’s young rising star at left back, Reggieton Foxtrot M’Tango
Rigobert Song says “hi.”
Nice to see the club finally moving on getting rid of the dross. There are at least eight players who need to be shipped out.
And we still need to sign a central midfielder.
Caicedo?
I agree that we need to ship players out. Runarrson, Okonkwo, Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Trusty, Lokonga, Pepe, Marquinhos and Balogun make 10. Can’t see that we need to sign a central midfielder though to be honest. Are Rice, Partey, Jorginho and Elneny not enough?
Buying two £100m players in one transfer window would be beyond even the Saudi clubs.
Besides, with Partey staying, the midfield is sorted. Saka’s deputy is the only missing piece for me at the moment.
I don’t even think £40m for David Raya is a wise move. I can guarantee you we’ll be back in the Leno/Martinez and Ramsdale/Leno situation in a season or two.
What 8 players do you consider dross or surplus to requirements?
I’d v surprised if we sign Caicedo
Let the man dream
let the fat man dream
Caicedo is probably leaving Brighton this transfer window. The Chavs are desperate to sign him but Brighton are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land by demanding in excess of £100 million. Once the price comes down to something more realistic then we could be in a position to gazump the deal.
Rice and Caicedo in midfield would be a dream ticket.
You’re deluded.
No, he is not. He is using his imagination.
I think Caicedo may well stay at Brighton, they’re an exciting team in the Europa League with a good manager. Brighton don’t need the money, they’ve already sold well and they have an ambitious owner who is a fan. If the Chavs want Caicedo they’re going to have to persuade them to sell, and pay a Rice sized fee.
We don’t ned another central midfielder if we keep Partey
Partey can’t last a season
Rice, Jorginho and Elneny are there to ensure the Partey continues.
He won’t need to – as stated previously, we also have Rice, Jorginho and El Neny.
…and, if necessary, Timber, White, Zinchenko. I even think Saliba would do a decent job there.
FONT CHANGE YES!
Why can’t we get any money for sales, looking at our record compared with other prem teams we’d be in the bottom three,, oxlade chamberlain for €38m – while spurs, chelsea, Liverpool, United, all well over €100, they’ve all sold well. The Mugsmashers even beat our record with players that haven’t even played for their first team and we’d be over the moon with €10m for holding, €5m for trusty. I bet Sambi won’t fetch half what we paid for him. Come on Arsenal, we’ve got better at paying extraordinary money, we need to get better at selling now!
Chelsea (like City) are a unique situation where they can hold onto a player (and their wages) for years without it affecting their transfer incomings until there is a good market for them, meaning when they sell it’s at a good price. Arsenal signed Auba, Laca and Pepe for £170m total and then couldn’t sign another forward for more than 10m until Aubazette’s contracts ran out. That meant we had to keep playing those three when they weren’t a good fit, pushing their value down. Chelsea on the other hand could afford to loan out Morata for free and still… Read more »