Mikel Arteta Rejects Sambi's Assumption Of Lokonga Tinisan Yaya Toure

JAKARTA - Mikel Arteta, Arsenal coach, argued with former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany about the quality of Albert-Mboyo Sambi Lokonga.

The 41-year-old coach did not agree with Kompany's opinion that Lokonga was a Yaya Toure succession.

Previously, it was known that Kompany had convinced Arteta directly to pay more attention to Lokonga's talents. You see, the former Belgian national team captain worked with the 24-year-old while still at Anderlecht.

"I watch football from various countries, different places. I saw Sambi (Lokonga) playing his first game, his first two games, then he had a knee injury."

"However, the first thing I did when I saw Sambi was to meet Mikel and say, 'You have to pay attention to this person, he is the new Yaya Toure'."

"He suffered a ligament injury and then I finally took the job of Anderlecht Manager. So I've worked with him (Lokonga). I had the same conversation about him with Mikel, I still believe the same thing."

"I'm not sure I'm going to help him by saying things like this. What I love about Sambi, it rarely happens in football, that he has what Yaya has."

"He wants the ball, whatever happens. If the team doesn't do it well, give the ball to Sambi. If the team does well, give the ball to Sambi. He will never run away from his responsibilities," Kompany said in a podcast called FIVE, quoted by the Mirror.

However, Lokonga's appearance at Arsenal did not match Kompany's prediction, where the midfielder would follow in Yaya Toure's footsteps.

In fact, his performance is far from Arteta's wishes. Since being brought in from Anderlecht in 2021, the Belgian player has failed to compete with Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey. In fact, not even the second layer.

Lokonga is faced with a fitness problem. This disappointing performance gave rise to pressure from supporters of the Gunners. As a result, he was only on the list of players on loan.

In early 2023 he was loaned to Crystal Palace. Then, Luton Town borrowed Lokonga as of September 2023.

During the loan period, Lokonga's performance was still not as expected. He was injured three weeks after joining Luton.

No wonder, there are speculators that his future at Arsenal is on the brink. However, until now there has been no approach to the Gunners to propose to Lokonga.

Luton Town, which is the temporary cessation of Lokonga, is unlikely to be able to make the midfielder permanent. You see, the transfer value of the former Anderlecht player is definitely burdensome, Luton's nickname.

"I really like him. First of all he is a brilliant person, always smiling, always very positive, great in everything, but he is also a very good footballer."

"I wanted to work with him for a longer time, but I don't think it depends on me."

"He's our player, but he's definitely also an Arsenal player. So, I think there's a lot to do," said Luton's manager, Rob Edwards.