Speaking on his YouTube channel, Charles Watts has delivered an update on Albert Sambi Lokonga’s situation ahead of his reported move to Arsenal.
It sounds as though it’s just a matter of time before the Belgian is announced as an Arsenal player, but in this day and age, transfers from foreign countries aren’t straightforward at all.
Indeed, due to issues with the ongoing pandemic, people at Arsenal haven’t been able to give Watts a date on when Lokonga would be able to join up with the squad, but he has been told that it’s very unlikely that he’ll be able to go to the training camp in Scotland.
What’s been said?
Watts gave an update on Lokonga.
“Medical was yesterday, so we are getting very, very close to it being finalised. There are suggestions that the medical was in Holland, I heard yesterday that it was in Belgium, but there have been reports that it has taken place in Holland. Maybe to try and get away from some quarantine issues?” Watts said.
“I don’t know, but I spoke to people at Arsenal yesterday and they said it was up in the air as to when he would get here and how long he was going to have to quarantine for, they weren’t even sure where the medical was going to be, it was very much a moving parts such thing.
“There were suggestions he could fly to Scotland for the training camp, but I was told yesterday that it’s very unlikely he’ll be involved in that just because of these issues with quarantine.”
Frustrating
Of course, quarantine steps and making sure everything is safe is necessary at the moment, but this is incredibly frustrating to say the least.
Arsenal are about to spend millions of pounds on a new player, and they don’t know when he’ll be able to join up with the squad, and this lack of pre-season preparation could affect his entire campaign.
Imagine if you’re Lokonga, stuck in a new country in a new job as a 21-year-old and you don’t know when you’ll be able to meet your new teammates.
It must be incredibly annoying, but at least it sounds as though this deal is going to happen.
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