Sambi Lokonga is having a mixed season for me. It’s not good enough but also not bad. What I think is; the level set by Partey in the 6 and Xhaka in the 8 has gone up so much that he can’t match it. I will not be surprised if we upgrade in January and send him on loan.

It doesn’t mean he’s bad player, I think he just struggling in those two positions. Because I know he’s very good in a double pivot playing as a box-to-box and he is still very young. We won a lot of games with him and Partey last season when Xhaka was out and he was ahead of Elneny in the packing order.

Also bare in mind, the team that plays around him is different, similar to Vieira and Nketiah I’m sure if they played in around the first team players more it would be a different performances for all of them.

But he will not get the luxury to play within the first team so often if he cannot prove that he can do the job while playing with the second team.

I dont want to lose this player just yet, I still want to see what the coaches are capable of because he could easily be the long term Partey successor. A 6 month loan in January could do a trick.