Coached by Kompany, loved by Arteta - the lowdown on Arsenal new boy Lokonga

Lokonga is off to a great start at Arsenal, appearing in six games in the Premier League and debuting in the EFL cup.

Settling into north London, he arrived having made 37 senior appearances and scoring three goals for Anderlecht last season.

So those are the basics, here are five things you need to know about this rising midfielder.

BROTHERHOOD

Lokonga has been familiar with the world of football from the get go as his brother, Paul-Jose M'Poku is also a professional footballer, previously playing for rivals Tottenham.

However, having signed for Spurs for three years from 2008-2011, M'Poku did not make any senior appearances for the club.

Instead M'Poku fulfilled his English football journey with his loan club Leyton Orient, making 34 appearances and scoring four and assisting six goals.

WHAT'S IN A NUMBER?

Lokonga has been proving his worth at Arsenal in the No. 23 shirt, however after his Premier League debut the 21-year old hinted he wanted to keep his former Anderlecht number in an Instagram post.

Lokonga captioned the post "48 in the heart, 23 on the back". Cryptic or not?

Lokonga wore the number 48 during his time at the Belgium club, having broken into the first-team as an 18-year old and going on to making 78 appearances for Anderlecht, scoring three goals and providing seven assists along the way.

His unusual Anderlecht shirt number was believed to have been chosen due to a connection with his hometown of Verviers, which has the area code 4800.

MIKEL APPROVES

As the £18m deal closed, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was gushing with joy to have Lokonga in his squad.

The Spaniard said: "Albert is a very intelligent player who has shown great maturity in his performances during his development.

"He has been coached well by Vincent Kompany and his team at Anderlecht. I know Vincent very well and he talks so highly about Albert and the positive impact he had on Anderlecht in recent seasons."

And more recently, Lokonga's performance against Brighton, left his gaffer feeling proud.

Arteta said: "I think he had one of the best performances of the players on the pitch. He shows a lot of character and is always in good positions.

"I think his defensive work and understanding is getting better. It was a really difficult game because it was all the time one-on-one duels in the middle of the pitch and it's not the game that really suits him the most.

"But I think considering the circumstances he did really well."

HANDFUL OF IDOLS

Lokonga doesn't have one particular footballing hero, in fact he has named five star midfielders that he idolises.

Lokonga admitted that most of the players he looked up to growing up competed for Barcelona, such as Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

However, he also added in two other inspiring players; Real Madrid's Luka Modric and Paris Saint-Germain's Marco Veratti.

Lokonga said: "I never wanted to be like a player, I always wanted to be Sambi, so I took a little bit of all the players I used to watch.

"I never said to myself that you need to be like this player, I always wanted to be Sambi and to do Sambi on the pitch"

"If I had to tell you some players, I will say Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Modric, yeah, all the top players, Marco Veratti as well. All the top players."

HIS BEST POSITION

Lokonga is able to flow into any position in the midfield, he is excellent at bringing the ball up from the back with his dribbling skills, making him a very strong, progressive ball carrier.

And Lokonga revealed he can play as a box-to-box midfielder but he thinks he's better known in Belgium for playing a holding role.

The 21-year old said: "I can play as a six and I can play like a box to box, but yeah, people say that I'm better in the six position."