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Arsenal have one specific issue in their team – and Brighton could help solve it.
After spending £200 million this summer, Mikel Arteta seems to have completed his squad nicely overall and the midfield plan is clear from the first two games of the season. Declan Rice has gone on record to say that he can play either as a No.6 or a No.8 and the Gunners’ record signing has played both roles so far against Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace. Sometimes at the same time.
But in Kai Havertz, Arsenal have a player who’s clearly not a No.8 to slot into a similar role as Martin Odegaard. It’s very obvious that the Gunners lack a true tempo-setting No.8 in the mould of Granit Xhaka, following the Swiss midfielder departing the club.
Enter Brighton & Hove Albion. According to Alex Crook, the chief football correspondent at talkSPORT, the Seagulls are pursuing a loan move for Belgian midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga. Hello: is this the No.8 that Arteta’s looking for?
Possibly so. Lokonga began his career at Arsenal in a double-pivot and impressed: when the Gunners moved to a 4-3-3 though, he didn’t suit being the deepest midfielder in the side. He’s best as an interior on either side of the No.6 – ideally the left.
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With Brighton seeking a deal for Lokonga – once touted as the next Yaya Toure by former boss, Vincent Kompany – a year’s development under De Zerbi seems like the perfect education to develop in the Premier League and on European nights. Arsenal currently have Havertz and Rice sharing responsibilities of the No.8 role on that side and can’t offer him enough minutes.
But in the future, a midfield of Rice, Havertz and Odegaard seems untenable. Odegaard is undroppable: the other No.8 role is up for grabs for big games since Havertz can’t offer everything a midfielder should in transition. Rice played that role against Manchester City in the Community Shield – with Thomas Partey as the No.6 – but in the long-term, Rice will likely be the No.6. Partey is 30 and could be moved on in the next 12 months. So who replaces Partey?
Lokonga could be groomed for that last specialist role in the squad. Arsenal have other youngsters in Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Charlie Patino – and it’s a race for the role.
Arsenal currently don’t have another natural midfielder to sit alongside Odegaard like Xhaka did… but they might have one coming through.
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