Arsenal: Does Calum Chambers deal exclude Caglar Soyuncu?

Calum Chambers has been handed a new, four-year contract that will keep him at Arsenal until 2022. It begs the question: Does the deal exclude a proposed move for Caglar Soyuncu?

Arsenal have made a major move at one of the most important and uncertain positions of the summer: Calum Chambers, according to BBC Sport reporter David Ornstein, who is extremely plugged-in at the club, has signed a new, four-year contract that will keep him in north London until 2022, seeing his wages rises to a reported figure of £70,000-a-week.

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With Sokratis Papastathopoulos seemingly set to sign in the coming days and Rob Holding already locked down for the long-term future, it seems as though Unai Emery’s plans at centre-half are beginning to come together, with Chambers at the front and centre of them.

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With this new contract, then, questions are raised regarding the Gunners’ strongly reported interest in young Freiburg centre-half Caglar Soyuncu. The Turkish international, who has only just turned 22, was seen by some as a possible replacement for Chambers as the leading young prospect at the position in the squad. That thinking depended on Emery not rating Chambers as highly as Arsene Wenger did. After this news, clearly that’s not the case.

So where does that leave Soyuncu? Are Arsenal still interested in him? Does he still want to move to the club, as he publicly declared, knowing that he will have to fight hard to win a starting role? Were the reports even accurate in the first place? I think that if you take the belief that Soyuncu was a Chambers replacement, then the answer to those questions is fairly simple: the interest has ended and there will be no move.

But I am not so sure that Chambers is the player that Soyuncu is being lined up to be replaced, assuming that he is actually being lined up to replace someone. The player who is most seriously slighted by this development is Shkodran Mustafi. If Arsenal were to pursue their interest in Soyuncu seriously over the course of the window, then I believe that it would be in place of Mustafi, not Chambers.

There have been rumblings that Sven Mislintat and Emery are not as convinced of Mustafi’s qualities as Wenger was, failing to see that ability shrouded by the inconsistencies and the errors. Funds must be raised if a £35 million Soyuncu is to arrive, and selling Mustafi could help with a large portion of that cash. Sokratis, as well as Laurent Koscielny when he returns from injury, provides the experience. Emery and Mislintat now just want to talent to partner him, and, in their opinion, Chambers and Soyuncu are more talented than Mustafi.

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This is not to say that Soyuncu will definitely replace Mustafi. I have no idea. Rather, I am simply stating that the Chambers deal does not exclude Arsenal making a move for Soyuncu. They can have both, if they want them, but having both might well come at Mustafi’s expense.