Football transfer news

Albert Sambi Lokonga says he’s capable of playing in any midfield position for Arsenal – but suggests he may be at his best as a ‘number six’.

The Gunners finally completed their long-running pursuit of the 21-year-old on Monday, arriving from Anderlecht for a fee in the region of £15m.

He comes very highly rated and adds some much-needed reinforcement to Mikel Arteta’s engine room amid speculation over Granit Xhaka’s future.

Albert Sambi Lokonga can play as a No 6 and No 8…

Here’s how Arsenal should lineup with him in midfield. ?

— 90min (@90min_Football) July 19, 2021

But there has been much debate over where his best position actually is. He played as both a six and an eight throughout his time at Anderlecht and in the Belgium youth teams, though manager Vincent Kompany had previously admitted he has to improve defensively if he is to become a holding midfielder.

Lokonga, however, reckons this view doesn’t hold with what he has been told previously. Speaking to the Arsenal website after his arrival, he said he is capable in both positions, but has been told that he is at his best when sitting between the lines.

“I can play both,” he said. “I can play as a six and I can play like a box to box, but people say that I’m better in the six position.”

Lokonga joins Arsenal after a decade coming through the ranks at Anderlecht, making 78 appearances for the first-team at his boyhood club. He won’t be fazed by the step up to the Premier League, however, saying that he feels confident about his ability to hit the ground running in England.

“It’s a big move because I have been playing for Anderlecht for 10 years so it’s going to be my first big move to another country.

So… Albert? Or Sambi?

We asked the man himself ? pic.twitter.com/ohpQXm2T1W

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 19, 2021

“It’s a big step, but I feel confident because we have to be. In the football world, you have to feel confident about yourself, but I’m looking to play in this league and I can’t wait to start.”

The Nuno Espirito Santo era is underway at Tottenham, and the new boss is looking to build a functioning team out of the disjointed rabble that tried its best to miss out on the Europa Conference League last season.

The new boss needs signings all over the pitch, but a new centre-back or two is high on the list of priorities…especially if Nuno wants to play three of them at once as he did at Wolves.

As is the norm in the transfer window, Spurs have been linked with various names of wide-ranging abilities, and some of them look far more realistic than others. So we’ve sifted through the rumour mill and assessed each of them on how likely they are to arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer.

Remember, it’s on likelihood, and not ability, before anyone starts…

Now don’t get me wrong, Daniel Levy likes an underwhelming signing. But would he really go this far?

30-year-old Boly is a decent Premier League centre half, but he’s too limited to be anything more than that. Throw in the fact that he wasn’t even a regular under Santo in his last season at Wolves (hampered by injuries, granted), and yeah, this one doesn’t quite add up.

From one extreme to the other, Sevilla star Kounde is exactly the sort of signing Tottenham should be going for this summer.

And that’s precisely why it probably won’t happen.

It would be a sideways-at-best move for Kounde, and from Spurs’ perspective, he’d cost a hell of a lot of money. More than they can reasonably afford.

Barcelona are a bit of a dumpster fire. No, scratch that, Barcelona are a eternally burning landfill site.

Their desperate financial situation means they are selling off assets like a thrift store going out of business, and except for a handful of untouchable first-team stars, virtually all of their squad is available for transfer.

That includes France defender Lenglet, who has mostly put his injury issues behind him to become a regular for club and country over the past two seasons.

But would he want to go to Spurs and play in the Europa Conference League? That remains to be seen.

Pros: Versatile, handsome, good at headers, available for free
Cons: Almost everything else

21-year-old Lacroix has been touted as a long-term replacement for Sergio Ramos at PSG, and after a pretty stunning season for Wolfsburg last term, it’s easy to see why.

Spurs would have to show some real intent to get this one over the line considering the competition from elsewhere in Europe, but it’s not outside the realms of possibility.

Joachim Andersen’s first Fulham goal – what a vital goal it could prove to be! ? pic.twitter.com/DPMG7xPg1T

— 90min (@90min_Football) March 19, 2021

You can already see the Sky Sports News headlines about a loan with an obligation to buy being finalised with seconds left on the Deadline Day ticker, can’t you?

Andersen had a strong season with Fulham last term despite the Cottagers’ relegation, and he wouldn’t be the worst signing for Spurs. But there is just a whiff of the underwhelming about it.

Conor Coady – always a vital member of the dressing room! ? pic.twitter.com/vDqN3yR5Wr

— 90min (@90min_Football) July 10, 2021

Coady made about 500 appearances in four years under Santo at Wolves. The Portuguese really, really loves him.

And while they are desperate not to lose their long-serving captain at the same time as their manager, it may just be the perfect time for Coady to leave and link up with his former boss at a bigger club.

Yeah, this one makes sense, right?

Reports recently emerged claiming Fabio Paratici is in ‘advanced talks’ with Atalanta to sign the 23-year-old. Confusingly, though, he is still a Juventus player – so Atalanta would first have to trigger a £14m option to buy, and then immediately sell him to Spurs for a huge markup.

He’s more or less the right profile for Tottenham. At 23, his best years are still ahead of him, but he has a decent amount of top-level experience under his belt and would be ready for the first-team right away.

The issue once again is whether he would leave one of the best sides in Serie A for a Premier League side stuck in transition, but the ambition of Santo and Paratici could convince him.

Capped 23 times by Japan, would 22-year-old Takehiro Tomiyasu solve Tottenham’s defensive woes? ?

— 90min (@90min_Football) June 27, 2021

Tomiyasu was one of the first centre-back targets to emerge after Santo’s arrival, and it’s pretty obvious a deal is close to being done.

Spurs have identified the Japan star, who can also play right-back, as the ideal defensive signing, and a valuation of around £20m means they can sign him and still keep enough in the bank for another defender.

They want to get the deal done during the Olympics, where he will represent Japan on home soil. They kick off against Mexico on Sunday 25 July.

Tottenham have been described as being in ‘advanced talks’ over a double deal to sign centre-back Cristian Romero and goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini from Atalanta as new football managing director Fabio Paratici begins to exert his influence on the club.

The centre of defence is a key area that Spurs are targeting in the transfer market this summer, while goalkeeping backup is required following the release of Paulo Gazzaniga.

Spurs are already believed to be close to capturing Bologna centre-back Takehiro Tomiyasu, who is currently on international duty for Japan ahead of the Olympics, but 90min recently revealed that the club ideally want to add two new faces at the heart of the defence.

New manager Nuno Espirito Santo has told the club of his desire to be reunited with Wolves captain Conor Coady, while Joachim Andersen, Jannik Vestergaard and James Tarkowski are other options that have been under consideration, but Jules Kounde has rebuffed an approach.

Having joined from Juventus, Paratici’s expertise lies in the Italian market, so it comes as little surprise football.london now reports that talks for Romero have hit an ‘advanced’ stage.

The 23-year-old started three games for Argentina at this summer’s Copa America, including the victorious final against Brazil, and helped Atalanta finish third in Serie A last season.

Romero is actually midway through a two-year loan from Juventus but Atalanta are expected to trigger an option to buy for a fixed fee of in the region of €16m (£13.8m) a year earlier than planned and now look set to make a quick profit if they succeed in selling him to Spurs.

The fee Spurs would have to pay could be significantly more than that as the profit that Atalanta are expected to make from the deal is described as ‘generous’.

Gollini, meanwhile, is billed as a long-term successor to 34-year-old Hugo Lloris. The Italian goalkeeper has longstanding connections to English football, having joined Manchester United’s youth ranks at the age of 17 and then later spent time at Aston Villa in the Championship.

He has been Atalanta’s number one since 2018, during which time the club has finished third in Serie A three seasons in a row to become an established Champions League qualifier.

For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!

New Arsenal signing Albert Sambi Lokonga will be the 11th player to wear the number 23 shirt for the Gunners since fixed squad numbers were introduced for Premier League clubs in 1993.

Big things are expected of the 21-year-old midfielder following his £18m transfer from Anderlecht as part of wider crucial squad rebuild at the Emirates Stadium.

Here’s a look back at those Arsenal number 23s that have come before him…

Ray Parlour started his career at Arsenal and was just 20 when he became the first ever player to wear number 23 for the club in the Premier League.

He kept it until the summer of 1995 when he acquired the number 15 shirt that he is more widely known for.

Paul Dickov was scouted by Arsenal as a teenager but ultimately only played sparingly for the first-team before he was sold to Manchester City for close to £1m in August 1996.

Dickov spent six years in Manchester, before moving on to Leicester and Blackburn.

Arsene Wenger plucked unknown midfielder Alberto Mendez from regional German football in 1997. But despite being on Arsenal’s books until 2002 he played only a handful of games.

After 1999, the remainder of his time at the club was spent out on loan.

Stephen Hughes was Arsenal’s great home-grown hope of the mid-1990s and played 28 times in all competitions during the 1997/98 double season.

He was assigned the number 23 shirt in the summer of 1999, although he was soon loaned to Fulham and then sold to Everton within a few months.

Arsenal had big hopes for Nelson Vivas when he joined from Boca Juniors for a not insignificant £1.5m shortly after being a starter for Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.

He initially wore number seven, before leaving for a loan spell at Celta Vigo midway through his second season, and took 23 on his return.

Sol Campbell completed one of the most controversial transfers in English football history when he moved as a free agent to Arsenal from Tottenham in 2001.

The England centre-back chose the same number 23 shirt he had previously worn for Spurs until 1999.

After Campbell left in 2006, no player wore Arsenal’s number 23 shirt until Russian star Andrey Arshavin joined the club in January 2009.

His career with the Gunners was mixed but included an iconic four-goal haul in a 4-4 draw with Liverpool only a few months after he arrived.

Nicklas Bendtner’s squad number history at Arsenal was odd. He was wearing 26 when he became a first-team regular, but swapped that to 52 a few years later, insisting it was special to him.

He later spent time on loan at Sunderland when it appeared that his Arsenal career was petering out, then bizarrely joined Juventus, before returning to his parent club for one final season in a new shirt.

Injury hell meant that Danny Welbeck only twice played more than 16 Premier League games in his five seasons as an Arsenal player.

The forward was seen as a smart signing when Manchester United deemed him surplus to requirements in 2014, although Arsenal rarely saw him at his best.

David Luiz was something of a shock signing for Arsenal in the summer of 2019, costing an estimated £8m from Chelsea to bring some experience to an evolving Gunners defence.

Perhaps as expected, the Brazilian was both good and bad, winning the FA Cup but also setting a Premier League record for most penalties conceded in a single season.

For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!

Despite constant praise from Major League Soccer voices, United States men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter didn’t believe in Gianluca Busio. It wasn’t until weeks prior to the 2021 Gold Cup, after the Sporting Kansas City player arrived at USMNT training camp, that Berhalter finally began to take notice. 

Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes signed Busio to the club’s academy in 2016, allowing the player to rise through the ranks before signing an MLS Homegrown Player contract. In 2017, Busio became the second-youngest signing in league history at the age of 15. Vermes has been praising the player for his unique talent and special abilities on the pitch, hoping Berhalter would take notice. 

For a second, we thought it might have gone in…

Keep going, @gbusio13!

(@TUDNUSA) #MTQvUSA pic.twitter.com/Rb2uZMiZZo

— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) July 16, 2021

“Peter’s been singing his praises for the last couple of years and I didn’t really know what he was about until I started working with him,” Berhalter said after the USMNT’s 1-0 win over Canada in their final Gold Cup group stage match. “When I see this kid in training and games, he is special.”

Busio made his debut in the tournament opener on July 11 against Haiti, where the United States triumphed 1-0 against the Caribbean nation. He became the second-youngest player in U.S. men’s national team history to be selected for and play in the Gold Cup. He is only one of seven current teenagers on the roster representing the country. 

Busio featured in the team’s last group stage match, defeating Canada 1-0 to advance to the knockout round as winners of Group B. During the match, Berhalter noticed Busio’s unique technique and qualities on the ball that distinguish the young forward from other players on the pitch. 

“For him to deal with the game like he did and play the way he did, it shows a lot about his quality. I thought, in the beginning of the game, he was excellent in his position,” Berhalter added. “Again, we asked him to have a complicated role moving up in offense and down in defense and he was able to understand it, grasp it and perform well.”

The United States plays again on Sunday July 26 against Jamaica or Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarter-finals.