Albert Sambi Lokonga has opened up about his brutally honest chat with Mikel Arteta when he joined Arsenal as the Spaniard pointed out his "flaws."
The midfielder has shown promising signs in the early stages of the season after signing for the Gunners for £18million from Anderlecht in the summer.
The youngster has a brilliant opportunity to stake a claim in the side with Granit Xhaka on the sidelines for three months with a knee injury.
It remains to be seen if Arteta will put his faith in the new signing or drop Martin Odegaard into a deeper position with Nicolas Pepe coming back into the team - like he did against Burnley the weekend before last.
Who should take Granit Xhaka's place while he is out injured? Comment below
Ainsley Maitland Niles is also an option who played in the middle of the park against Norwich a few weeks ago.
Arteta is aware that Lokonga is not the finished article, however, and based on their chat when he first arrived at the Emirates, it's not a foregone conclusion that he will deputise for Xhaka.
Speaking to Sport Foot Magazine, the Belgium international said: "When I first spoke to Mikel Arteta, I immediately saw that he had understood my game, who I was and who I could potentially become.
"That's when I told myself that things were going to stick between Arsenal and me. Don't worry, he also told me about my flaws."
Arteta has dropped a hint that Maitland-Niles could be set to receive an increase in minutes with Xhaka missing.
On Thursday, Arteta was asked whether the 24-year-old could be one of the players to replace Xhaka and he replied: “He’s certainly one.”
Arteta concedes that Xhaka's injury is a huge blow, but reckons they have other players that are capable of stepping up to the plate in his absence.
He added: "Obviously it’s really bad news personally for Granit. He’s a strong man he will use this time to focus on other things and I’m sure he will be back in the right place when he’s back. He will be missed but other players have to step in.
"He probably escaped an even worse injury because that action for a cruciate injury is a tricky one. Hopefully, he can escape surgery as well.
"He’s a big big loss. We’re going to lose him for a while. We’ll try to keep him as close as possible to the team.
"We are here to help him and I'm sure we’ll find some ways around it because we have some really good players who can do the job."
