Arsenal: Calum Chambers teetering on the edge

Calum Chambers returns to Arsenal after a year on loan with Middlesbrough. At the age of 22, and with competition galore in the squad, his career in teetering on the edge.

There comes a point in every player’s career where potential and promise must turn into productivity and success. Young players are acquired with the intention that they will develop into consistent and prominent contributors as a senior member of the squad later in their career. There comes a moment where one must become the other. For Arsenal, there is one player, in particular, that is reaching that point.

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After a year-long loan at Middlesbrough, where he enjoyed consistent game time, featuring heavily for Aitor Karanka’s side, Calum Chambers now returns to North London with a fight on his hands to reclaim a role in the squad.

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When asked about his time in the North East, as well as the prospects that he faces when he returns to North London for preseason later in the summer at the European under 21 Championships, where he awaits a semi-final against Germany, Chambers stated that he will ‘doing the best I [sic] can’ in an attempt to prove his worth:

"“I’ll be going back to Arsenal for preseason and doing the best I can and seeing what happens. It’s been a very good season for me. I gave absolutely everything to try to get results and keep Middlesbrough in the Premier League. Unfortunately, couldn’t do that and I was gutted. We have to see what happens. I’m an Arsenal player and I’ll be going back in for preseason and concentrating on that but at the moment my focus is on England and beating Germany.”"

Chambers is now 22, though, and the aforementioned point in his career where his potential must be realised is quickly upon him. For Chambers, this is a crucial upcoming season.

Whether he stays with the Gunners or is released on loan or not, Chambers must begin to vindicate the talent that he undoubtedly had when Arsene Wenger saw it fit to splash £16 million on his services at just 19 years of age.

And he is an extremely talented player. He is very quick, he reads the game well and he is wonderfully calm and composed on the ball, willing to play out from the back, even when under intense pressure from a hounding, harassing striker. But he is yet to replicate his more successful displays on the consistent basis that is required.

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For Chambers, if he suffers a year in which he features little and stagnates, sat behind the likes of Per Mertesacker and even Rob Holding, then his career will be thrust into jeopardy. If he can prove the improvements that he feels he has made, though, his flourishing could be just about to come to the fore.