Arsenal: What the hell do you do with Calum Chambers now?

Calum Chambers has played very well in defensive midfield during his season-long loan with Fulham. What should Arsenal do with him when he returns in the summer?

Last summer, Arsenal had a plethora of centre-halves to decipher between. With Unai Emery taking over the reigns, it was not clear what he would think about the many central defenders that he would inherit. But as the summer window played out, his thinking was unveiled.

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In the end, Arsenal went into the new season with only three fit centre-backs: Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis, and Rob Holding. Laurent Koscielny and Dinos Mavropanos were expected to return from injury at some point. All this spelled trouble for Calum Chambers, who had worked his way into the third centre-back spot at the end of the previous season but was sent out on loan for the year to Fulham.

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Even if his decisions said something different, Emery professed to still believing in Chambers’ quality, stating that he will be given the opportunity to earn his place in the senior squad when he returns. His comments were difficult to comprehend, though. You do not send a 23-year-old out on loan for a full season if you believe they have the potential of being a starter in favour of keeping a 22-year-old and an injured 20-year-old.

It was fairly clear that Chambers was seen as somewhat expendable. At best, he would be welcomed back to the Emirates as a depth piece and little more. And now, at 24, you would have to think that Chambers would be wanting more from his team than the reserves and rare senior appearances here and there. A sale, then, would seem like the logical outcome.

The spanner in all of this is the performance of Chambers during his loan at Fulham. At first, he struggled, lurching between a back-three and a right-back position in a back four that is clearly not his most comfortable. But with Claudio Ranieri’s hiring, Chambers’ position changed, starting in defensive midfield, a position, incidentally, that Arsene Wenger had earmarked him for when he was younger.

In a series of very impressive showings, despite everything around him crumbling into decay, Chambers, very much akin to Declan Rice at West Ham United, another centre-back turned central midfielder, displayed the blend of technique and skill in possession with natural defensive instincts that make him the perfect candidate to play the anchoring midfield role.

Suddenly, his fate at Arsenal, when he returns this summer, could be very different. While the same players that forced him out of the club at centre-back still remain, and are all expected to return bar Mustafi next season, there could be an opening for Chambers in midfield. The jury, somehow, is still out on Granit Xhaka, while Mohamed Elneny is expected to move on. Depth is required and regular starts are within reach.

This all leads to the question: What the hell do you do with Chambers now? Do you sell him as a centre-half? Do you keep him as a centre-half? Do you make his switch to midfield permanent and begin to integrate him into the first team? All these options and more are available for Emery this summer. It will be very interesting to see which one he feels is the best course of action.