Arsenal insider Charles Watts has provided fans with an update on the club’s pursuit of Anderlecht midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga.
The 21-year-old midfielder, who has reportedly got a big admirer in the form of Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, has been subject to plenty of speculation suggesting that he is going to make a move to the Emirates Stadium this summer.
A recent claim suggests that Mikel Arteta’s men submitted a bid of more than €15m (£12.9m) for him, but were knocked back with the Belgian outfit set to be holding out for €20m (£17.2m).
And speaking on the latest edition of his show, Watts issued this update on what stage the negotiations were at, and he seemed pretty confident that the deal would be going through very shortly:
“So as far as I’m aware with Lokonga – this isn’t something that’s been done and agreed, but it is edging that way. There’s growing confidence that this is a deal that can be done. It’s just a case of still getting these final details with Anderlecht sorted out.
“There has been talk that there’s a second official bid [that] has gone in, I haven’t been told that yet, but that’s not saying it certainly hasn’t happened, it may well have, I just haven’t heard that yet. But this bid is apparently a lot closer to what Anderlecht want in terms of their asking price.
“But you’ve still got to get the clauses done, you’ve got to get the exact sort of structure of the deal made up to suit all parties, but it appears that this is one that is edging closer and closer to completion, which will be a big boost to Arsenal, because they really like Lokonga, they want to get this one done. Edu, Arteta, they’re very keen on him.”
TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments about Albert Sambi Lokonga…
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It’s good to hear that Arsenal are well on their way when it comes to signing a player such as Lokonga, who was consistently in the top ten in a lot of statistical categories for Anderlecht last season.
Because with the work that Arsenal need to do in terms of bouncing back from their disappointing season in 2020/21, the sooner that a player can come in and be integrated into the team and get used to playing under Arteta, the better chance they will have at starting the season off strong.
And with Arteta reportedly under pressure to start the season off, he will need all the help that he can get to make sure the Arsenal board aren’t tempted to pull the trigger and get rid of him.
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