Arsenal: Calum Chambers can be the defensive solution we need

For a team that is desperate for defensive help, Arsenal can find a lot of what they’re looking for in Calum Chamber. Even if they haven’t started looking yet.

Everyone wants to talk about Arsenal‘s defensive problems, and I’m right there with them. How we expect to go into next season with Shkodran Mustafi in the starting XI is beyond me. But then again, maybe that isn’t part of the plan at all.

And no, I’m not referring to signings. Because after Joachim Andersen signed with Lyon and Armando Izzo disappeared, the Gunners have only been linked with William Saliba, and that is for next year, not this year.

Like it or not, there is a very real chance that we don’t sign a new defender this summer that can help us out for this coming season. And that sucks. Because nothing says ‘solution’ like a new signing.

But don’t let it all be doom and gloom. Because there are two resources that we didn’t have last year that we are going to have this year. One, of course, is Rob Holding, but the other was one of twenty Premier League players of the season, Calum Chambers.

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Calum Chambers spent the year at Fulham proving to the world that he isn’t just a mature, capable defender, but he’s versatile and can double up in two roles that the Gunners can make tremendous use of—centerback and defensive midfielder.

Obviously, I’m most interested in the centerback part of that resume, because for the past two years, I’ve been lobbying for Chambers to get his shot in the back line. The opportunity has never been more real and more pertinent. But something about the state of the defense makes me think that Unai Emery is finally going to give Chambers that long overdue shot, with Chambers echoing how ready he is with his own words in the preseason tour.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more capable player strung along over such a lengthy period of time and still be chomping at the bit for his first real opportunity. Chambers is now 24, which is crazy. But that’s the kind of age that you finally want to see yourself into a serious role.

That happens this year. We don’t need a new signing if Chambers works out like he should. It may not be a sexy new signing, but it’s cheaper and a hell of a better story.