Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga has revealed that a scene from Amazon Prime’s All Or Nothing documentary on the Gunners was a playful moment between friends which got taken out of context.
The Belgian joined the North London club in the summer of 2021 and his debut campaign unfolded in front of Amazon Prime’s cameras, filming another of its All Or Nothing sports documentary series.
The scene in question shows Lokonga being confronted by Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah in the canteen over his mood having dropped out of the starting XI shortly after joining the club.
The 24-year-old featured in 12 of the opening 13 games of 2021-22, starting nine times, but fell out of favour and only played seven more league games for the rest of the campaign.
“I was playing (before),” Lokonga replied Smith Rowe when the Arsenal academy graduate told him he had changed.
“So what, my friend? You think you’re the only one not playing?,” Nketiah fired back.
Lokonga insists things are not how people took it, and while he did not like their reaction to the clip, his answer would not have changed if he were asked the same question.
“I would still have the same answer now,” the Luton Town loanee told The Athletic.
“A player wants to be on the pitch, and if he’s not playing, he is not happy.
“The other thing was, me and Eddie, we are really, really close. If you look at it back, you can see I was even laughing at the end.
“I didn’t find it difficult but I didn’t like it. Eddie was looking like the guy who was working hard and I was looking like the guy who was not happy, blaming and moaning. Eddie is my friend. It‘s more of a thing on social media.”