Arsenal: You’d be a fool to count Calum Chambers as sold

Everyone wants to talk about the dead weight that Arsenal will be selling this summer, but counting Calum Chamber among them is foolish.

Calum Chambers will be returning to Arsenal after having his loan side relegated. For the second time. I don’t know how many other players have that dubious honor, but aside from the team failings, it’s also the second time that Chambers will be returning with a heaping of new skills and a positive outlook on the future he has at the club.

For Middlesbrough, it was about locking him in at centerback, and I still marvel at the job he did at the heart of a surprisingly resolute defense that was constantly under siege.

For Fulham, it was about shaking off that locked down centerback role and embracing the versatility that he has enjoyed throughout his young career, switching from rightback to centerback to defensive midfield.

Chambers has admitted to enjoying the versatility, and when you see the work he’s done both at defensive midfield and at centerback, you see why – he does them both quite well. Well enough that it’d be silly to confine him to one or the other, but rather to stay open to the opportunity to move him around.

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The comparisons have been drawn to Eric Dier and Declan Rice – these guys that can play either defensive role and do them both effectively. And why not? He’s got the skill for it and if you want to get technical, you can count him as a centerback solution, which we certainly need, and a defensive midfield solution which, while not necessarily needed, can come in handy if we cut ties with Mohamed Elneny.

Chambers needs to get his fair shot at the club, and he’s made a point that his goal is getting into the Arsenal first team. That’s it. Forget everything else, he’s been at the club long enough now that he deserves a shot and he knows that by now.

I can’t remember a time where we have seen two more successful loans, and yet they both come from the same person.

It’s not even a matter of him deserving that chance. It’s a matter of him now having proven himself yet again and Unai Emery is no fool. he will see what Chambers has done and he will honor it.

So no, Chambers won’t be sold this summer, nor should he be. A solid, young, versatile player that can bolster a flimsy, old defense. Perfect, right?