Arsenal: Calum Chambers to Fulham first mistake of summer

Arsenal looked all set on the defensive side of things, but now Calum Chambers is on his way to a season-long loan and, just like that – mistake.

I knew it couldn’t be perfect. I knew Arsenal couldn’t go an entire summer without make some kind of a mistake. Everything had gone so swimmingly this transfer window, with the right moves being made and the right players being maintained.

But now we are hearing that Calum Chambers is to be sent on a season-long loan to Fulham. And all I can think to ask is ‘why the hell is this a good idea?’

Chambers is, as it stands, our best defender from last year. Shkodran Mustafi was a mental mishap waiting to happen and Laurent Koscielny made tons of errors too, plus he’s hurt for the long-term.

Meaning that Sokratis and Chambers were the two that made the most sense to see paired up for the first match of the season.

Not to mention how rough Rob Holding has looked in the preseason and how little we’ve still seen of Konstantinos Mavropanos.

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There were other links that popped up that were never followed up – Soyuncu and Pavard – who would have been slick additions if this was the plan, but those additions were never made. Presumably, that was because there was faith in Chambers.

The guy signed a new long-term deal to stay at the club. He and Unai Emery were jiving, they were a fit. And now he is reportedly set to leave on another loan move that would see Mustafi and Sokratis rocking out with the two starting roles and, what, Holding and Mavropanos in behind them?

That is an awfully shaky defensive scheme to rely on and I can’t for the life of me understand what the motive would be behind handcuffing the team so much. There is going to be a lot of experimentation throughout the season, mainly at the start, don’t we want Chambers around to be filtered in and out to see how everything works?

Apparently not. I can’t imagine why he signed a long-term deal only to be loaned out. It would seem like he would come back next year, maybe with a clearer future, but that’s what last year was for. He did the loan move, he served at Boro, and he proved himself. Then he proved himself again last year.

This is senseless. It’s dumb. And it’s disheartening to see it happening, if indeed is does come to pass.