Arsenal: Calum Chambers has head start as next Virgil van Dijk

Arsenal watched as Liverpool nabbed Virgil van Dijk and made him a record, but Calum Chambers has a head-start on being the next van Dijk already.

Arsenal may or may not have missed out on a major solution to their defensive woes. Liverpool spent a small fortune on Virgil van Dijk and the Gunners are left with the worst defense in the top seven teams. By far, now that Liverpool have the daunting Dutchman.

But he’s not the only defender in the world. And talking longterm, did we really miss that much?

No. And I’ve actually decided to take this in the route of my most recent crusade – the crusade to get Calum Chambers into the Premier League where he can prove to be the solution that we so desperately need.

Not all players develop the same. That’s a given. But there are times in each players careers when it’s clear that they’ve made it, or that they are going to make it.

For van Dijk, he was always pretty highly viewed, but his big, big breakout year came in 2014/15 with Celtic when he was 23. That’s the season that got him the big move to Southampton at the age of 24.

But until you’ve made it in the Premier League, you haven’t really made it. For van Dijk, that didn’t happen until he was 25.

Again, not all players develop the same, but my that timeline, Calum Chambers already has a head start on one-upping van Dijk by becoming the next great Premier League defender. Plus he is English, which always seems to bolster value.

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Fret not, I’m not just arbitrarily comparing him to van Dijk just to try to scrape up some belief in something better. They are similar defenders. Van Dijk pushes forward. He has that ability and that swashbuckling confidence. Chambers has that same ability. Not to mention he was almost utilized in the midfield.

He may not have the same size as van Dijk, but his strength is nothing to shirk at. Just ask Chicharito.

So here we have a defender in Chambers who is talented enough to play more attack-driven positions, but whose strength keeps him firmly planted at center back. Which sounds remarkably like a young van Dijk. The only difference is that van Dijk has had his opportunity laid out in front of him his entire career.

Chambers hasn’t had that chance yet. So we don’t know what will happen when he does get that chance.

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All I have to say from that is that Chambers is only 22 and Arsene Wenger in his infinite wisdom valued him at over £20m. Van Dijk was purchased at 24 by Southampton for £13m. Even factoring in inflation, there is a lot of reason to believe in Chambers and what he can become.

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