Sambi set for Sevilla loan as young Ajax keeper linked

Morning.

A very quick Friday blog for you, starting with news that Albert Sambi Lokonga will join Sevilla on loan for the season. Various reports say the deal will be done today, and that the Spanish side have a €12m option to make the deal permanent if things go well. My suspicion is that the option is unlikely to ever get taken up, but you never know. If he goes there and does well, they might decide to do it.

According to The Athletic (£), Arsenal also have a 25% sell-on clause should that option be taken up, so there’s something there if he gets his career back on track and ends up with another move somewhere down the line. It’s just so hard to tell. On the one hand this feels like a fairly underwhelming move, but on the other I don’t really see how any club outside the Premier League would be paying much above €12m anyway.

The fact that there wasn’t any significant interest from English clubs is perhaps telling. Fiorentina were on the case, but that’s about it, and ultimately he didn’t want to go there – plus we’re talking about a player whose career has stagnated for various reasons. It didn’t work for him at Arsenal, and while he showed a bit here and there for Luton on loan last season, injuries disrupted his rhythm and didn’t really allow him build consistent form and garner sufficient interest from other Premier League clubs.

How do you realistically value a player like that? I remember people going crazy when we got rid of Matteo Guendouzi for what felt like a pretty low fee, but there’s a good example of a middling player having a middling career at a number of middling clubs whose value was way below what many people suggested. He’s now playing for I don’t give a shit and all going well I never have to think of him ever again.

So, good luck to Sambi, the best case scenario for him and us is that he has a great season, Sevilla don’t take up the option and there’s more of a market for him next summer, but for now…

Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/07/sambi-set-for-sevilla-loan-as-young-ajax-keeper-linked/

Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-07-12 05:13:04

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