EXCLUSIVE: Kompany targets surprise Arsenal raid for first Bayern signing

Steve Kay

• Updated: 31 May 2024 11:37 BST
• 4 min read

Exclusive

Bayern Munich are seeking a deal for Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga as the first transfer of new head coach Vincent Kompany’s reign, FootballTransfers can reveal.

Kompany was a surprise appointment for the Allianz Arena club following the departure of Thomas Tuchel, and his first potential signing for the club is equally shocking given that Sambi Lokonga has had few first-team opportunities at Arsenal.

Sources have informed FootballTransfers, however, that the former Burnley boss, who will work with Max Eberl and Christoph Freund over transfer planning, wants to sign his former protegee at Anderlecht via a loan deal in order to resurrect his career.

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STATS

Albert Sambi Lokonga

DM (CRL)

Luton

Albert Sambi Lokonga

DM (CRL)

Luton

All Tournaments

2023/24

• 18

  Games

• 1

  Goals

• 3

  Assists

View all stats

There is, however, a stumbling block over the negotiations. While Bayern only want to sign the player, who spent much of the season at Luton Town, on a loan deal, Arsenal are set to insist on a permanent transfer.

Bayern, meanwhile, are short of natural central midfielders and see Sambi Lokonga as someone who can come into the squad and provide depth.

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Sambi Lokonga has failed to live up to his promise

Sambi Lokonga signed for Arsenal in the summer of 2021 from Anderlecht, where he had starred under Kompany as a box-to-box midfielder.

So impressive were his performances in Belgium that the Gunners were tempted to make a €17.5 million transfer, yet the 24-year-old proved a rare miss under Edu and Arteta.

He has made only 39 appearances for Arsenal but showed some promising form at Luton, where he scored one and created three more in 19 Premier League outings after overcoming a hamstring injury in the early part of the campaign.

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In an interview with VOOSport, he admitted that his future lies away from the Emirates Stadium.

“My time at Arsenal is slowly coming to an end, I think so. I had a discussion with the club and what was said is that the best solution for me was to leave,” he revealed.

Sambi Lokonga now has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of just €5.5m but Arsenal will be hoping to push for a fee closer to the initial outlay they made on a player who has won one international cap for Belgium.