In a recent print edition, Het Belang van Limburg claimed that Arsenal have offered a five-year contract to RSC Anderlecht midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga this summer. It is believed that the Belgian midfield ace wants to leave his current club and is on the verge of joining the Gunners in this off-season (transcripted and translated by Sport Witness).
Lokanga’s Impressive Rise In Belgian Football
The 21-year-old has caught the eye by producing a run of eye-catching displays for the Belgian outfit over the past 12 months. Lokonga registered three goals and two assists in 27 matches for Anderlecht in the Jupiler Pro League last season.
The promising youngster influenced the game at both ends of the field as he averaged 1.6 tackles, 1.8 interceptions, 1.1 clearances, 1.2 shots, 0.9 key passes and 0.9 dribbles per game in the Belgian top-flight. He even distributed the ball with accuracy after making 85.8% of his attempted passes in league football (stats via whoscored).
Lokanga has shown some encouraging signs with his performances at Lotto Park last season but only time will tell whether he can keep his standards up in the Premier League where he might struggle to cope with the physicality and high intensity of English football.
Will Lokanga Be A Good Signing For The Gunners?
Lokanga is a quick and agile talent who can do a bit of everything at the centre of the park. He has good defensive awareness that helps him to compete for the loose ball and earn possession back for his side. The Belgian whizkid is not shy of putting his foot through the ball when required and can also make some driving runs with the ball from midfield. However, he needs to add a few more goals and assists to his game if he intends to be a success story at a top club like Arsenal in the coming seasons.
At 21, Lokanga is in for a very bright future in European football, so the Gunners would be wise to snap him up this summer and grow him into a future star at North London. Mikel Arteta has worked with young talent a lot over the past few years which makes the Arsenal boss the perfect candidate to oversee the Anderlecht prospect’s development in the future.
We can expect Lokanga to provide some serious competition for Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka in the race to secure a midfield spot in Arteta’s starting XI next season. All in all, the Belgian starlet will be a decent signing for the London giants in the long run as he has the ceiling to become a world-class midfielder someday.
