Arsenal: Sokratis injury exposes Calum Chambers decision

Sokratis limped off with a sore knee during Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Everton. His injury exposes the decision to loan out Calum Chambers in the summer with depth now somewhat limited.

When Arsenal entered the summer transfer window, most people were fairly clear what position should be the priority of this business. While there were issues at goalkeeper, midfield and reserve right-back, all of which were eventually addressed in one way or another, it was centre-back that was seen as the most pertinent problem to resolve.

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And it seemed, at least to some extent, that the club agreed. Led by new Head of Recruitment, Sven Mislintat, the Gunners invested approximately £17 million of their precious resources into Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos. Whether he was actually a solution does not matter. Arsenal believed that, in some form or another, he was.

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But even with Sokratis in-house, such were the vulnerabilities at the position, there were still some very real concerns about the prospects of the defence for the season ahead. Laurent Koscielny would be unavailable until December, Shkodran Mustafi was hardly seen as dependable, and the depth was provided by three young prospects, none of which could exactly be described as ‘reliable’. And then, it was only two young prospects.

Late in the window, Arsenal decided to loan out Calum Chambers, the most experienced and prepared of these alternative options. He would spend the year at Fulham. The decision was queried by many fans at the time. It was risky having just four fit centre-backs available entering the year when two of those combined for 21 career league starts. And now, just six games into the campaign, that risk will be tested.

Sokratis, the man who was signed to solve the centre-back crisis, limped off midway through the first half against Everton on Sunday afternoon. He is said to have a knee problem, although, as of writing, the extent of the issue is not yet known. The club do not seem that concerned and Unai Emery stated that he was substituted as a precaution, but Arsenal’s centre-back depth will certainly be called into question.

In the next two weeks, the north London outfit will play four times. It is not inconceivable that Sokratis could miss all four matches before hopefully recovering during the October international break. If that is the case, or if it so transpires that he is set to miss more time than that, then I am sure that Emery would quite like to have Chambers on hand to use.

Obviously, it is not possible to predict injuries and, at the start of the season, it was very plausible to believe that Koscielny could return before any suspension or injury struck. But this complaint is not coming out of hindsight. Questions were asked when Chambers first departed in August. Now, those questions are coming to pass.

Let’s hope that Sokratis’ injury is not serious and that Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavropanos are capable of filling in for him. But, for now, this is a concerning development that casts doubt on the decision to allow Chambers to leave in the summer.