Arsenal have plenty of problems in their midfield right now, but things could change in the coming months if reports are to be believed.
Indeed, according to Goal, Arsenal are after Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans, and there’s every reason to believe he could be exactly what the Gunners need.
Tielemans is a fantastic footballer. He’s been one of Leicester’s best players since his arrival in 2019. He dictates play brilliantly while he also has a tendency to score the odd wonder goal – just look at his strike in the FA Cup final last season.
However, while Tielemans is an incredible player, there’s another interesting element of his potential arrival – the partnership he could strike up with Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Much like Tielemans, Lokonga is a product of the Anderlecht youth academy, and he’s a Belgium international, so there should already be an element of understanding between the pair.
In fact, the pair’s careers did slightly overlap at Anderlecht, and while they never actually managed to play together, they will certainly have trained alongside one another, while they’ve also both been in the same Belgium squads in the past.
Great midfield partnerships aren’t always made up of the most talented stars on the team, often central midfield partnerships hinge on the understanding between the two players.
There’s a reason Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard could never play together for England, they quite simply didn’t have that understanding, but that shouldn’t be an issue with Lokonga and Tielemans.
They’ve come from the same academy, they’re from the same country, they’ve trained together on numerous occasions and soon, they could both be playing for Arsenal.
We’ve seen something similar in the past with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen who were able to hone their partnership at Ajax and for Belgium before eventually flourishing for Tottenham, and while Spurs had a brilliant Belgian defensive partnership, Arsenal could be about to replicate that in the midfield.
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