Exclusive: Arsenal Midfielder Sambi Lokonga Attracts Interest from Brentford, Forest and Fulham

Brentford and Nottingham Forest have made initial enquiries about signing Arsenal’s Belgian international midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga in a £10million deal, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.

But Fulham are also understood to be keen to sign the 25-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Spanish side Sevilla.

Lokonga returned to the Emirates Stadium this summer after playing 23 games for Sevilla in La Liga.

And, although his first-team opportunities seemingly looked limited with the Gunners, he agreed to a one-year contract extension until June 2026.

That means Arsenal can command a decent fee for a player they shelled £17.2million out for when they signed him from Dutch outfit Anderlecht in July 2021.

Sevilla had a £10.25million option to buy Lokonga at the end of his season-long loan stint but decided against making his move permanent.

But both the Bees and Forest are interested in seeing if the central midfielder would be tempted with a move away from North London with the promise of regular football.

Lokonga played 19 Premier League games in his first season with the Gunners, but the following season only played six times as he frustratingly found himself down the first-team pecking order.

LOAN SPELLS

He was only 21 when he signed for the former Premier League winners, but he was loaned Crystal Palace for the second half of the 2022-23 campaign and then was loaned to Luton Town in their debut season in the top-flight in 2023-24.

“I can’t say it’s tough, because I still have one year on my contract, but it is true that as a player you want to know where you will end up or where you will stay," Lokonga said in a recent interview with the Standard. 

“What I know for sure is I need stability. I need a club where I can stay for two or three years, to play and develop again.”

And when he was at Sevilla he stressed: “As a player, I don't like to talk about myself, I prefer people to judge by what they see."

“But I love having the ball and organising the team. I like defending, helping my teammates."

“However, the most important thing is having freedom on the pitch, so I can feel much better and demonstrate my qualities.”