Arsenal have confirmed the arrival of midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht on a permanent deal.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has been keen to add some new faces to the midfield and the club scouts quickly set their sights on Sambi Lokonga, who has been a regular at Anderlecht for a few years and finished last season with the captain’s bracelet.
??? oath and charged? pic.twitter.com/teIKur1gPA
– Arsenal (@Arsenal) 19 July 2021
Confirmation of the deal was accidentally tweeted by Anderlecht, who quickly deleted his post moments later, but Arsenal have since gone to their official website to confirm Sambi Lokonga’s move once and for all and announced that he will be joining his new teammates once out. insulation.
The fee is not mentioned, although previous reports have suggested that Arsenal have shared an initial £ 15 million and agreed to spend an additional £ 3 million in addition.
Arteta told the club’s website: “Albert is a very intelligent player who has shown great maturity in his performances during his development. He has been well trained by Vincent Kompany and his team in Anderlecht. I know Vincent very well and he talks so loudly about Albert and the positive impact he had on Anderlecht in recent seasons. We are convinced that Albert is ready for the next step in his development and we look forward to welcoming a new member to our group with his quality and presence. ”
He will be Arsenal’s second signing of the summer following the arrival of Portuguese left-back Nuno Tavares, who sealed a £ 7m move to the Emirates Stadium earlier in the window.
Gunners are not done here. They have already hit £ 50m for Brighton and Hove Albion center-back White, and there are also plans to add a second new midfielder to replace Granit Xhaka, who is in talks to move to Roma.
The next new face could be an expensive arrival, with the likes of Lyon Houssem Aouar, Wolves Ruben Neves and AZ Alkmaar’s Teun Koopmeiners all rumored to cost around £ 30 million.
