Football journalist Fabrizio Romano has been sharing some details on Arsenal’s reported interest in RSC Anderlecht midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga.
This comes after Romano co-hosted a recent episode of the Here We Go Podcast where he spoke about a variety of transfer-related subjects.
On the topic of Arsenal’s apparent interest in Lokonga, Romano had this to say on the matter.
He said: “Keep an eye on Lokonga, the midfielder of Anderlecht because talks between Arsenal and Anderlecht are true and also talks between Arsenal and the player’s agents are true.
“Lokonga is 100% open to joining Arsenal, he would love to join Arsenal. He was contacted by Italian clubs, Napoli and Atalanta, but he said, ‘my priority is Arsenal.’
“Let’s see if Arsenal will decide to complete the deal in the next days.”
Lokonga, who is a product of Anderlecht’s youth academy, made his senior debut for the Belgian club back in December 2017.
Since then, the 21-year-old, who is currently valued at £10.8 million, has made 78 appearances for the club across all competitions in which he has managed to score three goals and provide seven assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Fabrizio Romano’s comments on Arsenal’s interest in Lokonga…
Taking into account how Lokonga ended the 2020/21 season as Anderlecht’s highest-rated player of anyone currently in their squad with an overall rating of 7.08/10 according to WhoScored, it’s easy to see, in our view, why Arsenal have reportedly shown their interest in signing him.
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With current Gunners midfielder Granit Xhaka linked with a move to Italian side AS Roma this summer, perhaps the club sees Lokonga as a potential long-term replacement for Xhaka if he were to end up moving to Serie A.
Going off what Romano had to say on the matter, it seems that the ball is in Arsenal’s court over whether or not they decide to make a deal for the midfield man this summer, given Lokonga’s apparent enthusiasm about potentially joining the Gunners.
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