Arsenal: The beauty of centre-back competition

Arsenal have three young centre-halves looking to establish themselves in the senior squad: Calum Chambers, Dinos Mavropanos and Rob Holding. That inner-squad competition is wonderful.

To improve, players need opportunities. They have to be handed the freedom to make mistakes, to learn from their errors, to test themselves against the best in the world, to greater understand the nuances of their position and delve into the tactical details of the game. And the only way they gain such things is through opportunity.

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That is why, as a football club, you can only develop so many young players. It is simple math. There are only so many minutes to go around, especially league and European minutes. You cannot give opportunities to everybody.

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This is where the competition enters the fray, when players have to fight against one another to earn the trust of their manager and establish themselves as starting options. And there is one position in the Arsenal squad that I most looking forward to watching this inner-squad competition unfold, centre-back.

At present, the presumed starters are Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny, with Shkodran Mustafi the first reserve. It is expected that Mustafi will leave this summer and there have been murmurs that Koscielny might want to exit also. Even if the Frenchman remains, however, there is a terrific opportunity for three young centre-halves to establish themselves this season. But there is probably only room for one of them.

Calum Chambers, 24, Rob Holding, 23, and Dinos Mavropanos, 21, at separate times, have all shown glimpses of their talent. But which will win the battle of the centre-back pecking order?

Chambers ended the 2017/18 season excellently before being named Fulham’s Player of the Season last year, although much of that came because of his performances in midfield. Holding flourished under Unai Emery early last season before tearing his ACL and ending his campaign. Mavropanos is perhaps the most talented, but he is also extremely raw, having only been at the club for 18 months and being injured for the majority of that.

You could make a strong argument for each of them to be considered as the best of the trio. You could also make a strong argument for each of them to be considered the worst of the trio. They are very evenly matched, and they have been ever since Mavropanos arrived and shone so quickly in January 2018.

But Emery has the chance to play them off against one another. Chambers especially is coming towards the end of his chances to earn a starting role. Through excelling in preseason and training, he must now give Emery no choice but to hand him one. Holding is in a similar situation as well. Mavropanos has a little more time and actually might benefit from a loan.

I would not like to predict what will happen at the centre-back position. At this point, it is all very uncertain. But for Arsenal and Emery, this inner-squad competition is perfect. They simply have to let the best man win. And I will be on the front seat watching.