Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga has left the club on loan for the third time in two years after joining Sevilla.
Lokonga arrived at the Emirates from Anderlecht in 2021 for £17.2million, departing his native Belgium to join Mikel Arteta’s promising young squad. Having caught the eye of Arteta and reportedly being persuaded to join the Gunners by club legend Henry, hopes were high that Lokonga could break through and offer something different.
However, with Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey having claimed the two starting midfield roles, the Belgian played very few minutes. Loan moves to Luton Town and Crystal Palace followed, and Sevilla for the duration of the 2024/25 season, have now come calling.
Having joined Anderlecht’s youth system in 2010, Lokonga quickly climbed the ranks, making 78 appearances for the club and generating interest from Arsenal in the process.
Henry, who knew Lokonga through Belgium’s national team set-up, persuaded him to make the big jump to the Premier League.
Lokonga spoke to Arsenal after moving about what sort of influence Henry had in the transfer, stating: “Not before I joined because I was with him for only two days, and then I left the camp with the national team. He gave me some advice about Arsenal, the way the people are, the mentality I need to have—some little things like that.”
The midfielder hasn’t had as much of an impact on Arsenal’s first team as he’d have liked, with loan moves chosen to speed up his development. His first switch to Crystal Palace in January 2023 didn’t go as planned, as Lokonga only featured nine times before returning to the Emirates that summer.
A deadline-day loan move to newly promoted Luton Town was next, and it gave Lokonga the chance to display some of his talents. His time with the Hatters was successful despite the club’s relegation to the Championship.
When Luton clashed with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, the German boss stated after the match: “When you see him playing and you think, oh…He’s an Arsenal player and they loaned him? Interesting.”
There may have been some hope that Lokonga would return and be part of Arsenal’s squad after his promising loan spell, but the player himself told the BBC in May: “I had a discussion with Arsenal, and the conclusion was that the best thing for me was to leave the club.”
“Now it’s up to my agent and the club to find something. I still have a contract there, one year plus a one-year option so let’s see what is going to happen.” La Liga is the midfielder’s next destination, as he joins Sevilla on a season-long loan deal.
