Arsenal: It can’t get any worse at centre-back

Arsenal are in an utter mess at the centre-back position. But as it cannot get worse, why not throw Calum Chambers, Rob Holding and Dinos Mavropanos into the fray?

The pre-season tour of the United States told us a lot about the Arsenal squad. From the burgeoning young players breaking into the team to the sharpness of the strikers and the surprising hard work of Mesut Ozil, there was plenty to draw from what was a relatively productive summer tour. However, there was also one glaring negative, something that was not particularly unexpected.

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Defensively, Arsenal once more looked extremely suspect. Shkodran Mustafi was at his hair-raising worst, Sokratis got sent off against Real Madrid, while Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac, Granit Xhaka and Ainsley Maitland-Niles all struggled to execute their defensive duties at various points. At times, it got ugly.

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And all this comes in the aftermath of club captain Laurent Koscielny refusing to travel with the team as he looks to engineer an exit. For all of the controversy surrounding Koscielny, he was the best centre-back in the squad last season. And this week, Unai Emery spoke about the return to London and whether Koscielny would be included:

"“I’ve spoken about him, with respect to him. I tried to be with us in the position here and continue working and finding one solution between the club, between him and us. When he decided not to come here with us on tour, the solution is now only for the club and him. He decided to be out. I respect him but I have a responsibility, he has a responsibility, and the club have their responsibility. Now it’s one issue only for the club and him. My idea is to continue with the players we are working with, and the players that want to be here.”"

It seems, then, that an impasse has been reached.

And that leaves Arsenal in a whole lot of bother at the centre-back position. At present, they have two senior starters, one of which is Mustafi, and a left-back-turned central defender who cannot be used at the heart of a back four. The only three viable options they have are all still relatively young and inexperienced: the blossoming triumvirate of Calum Chambers, Rob Holding, and Dinos Mavropanos, all of which seem to have been compared to one another throughout their time at the club.

I do not know which of these is the best prepared to be relied upon as a weekly starter. I don’t know if any of them are, although Holding certainly showed promise before his injury last season and Chambers wasn’t named Fulham’s Player of the Season for nothing. I do not know who is the most talented and I most certainly don’t know if any of them have the skill to be a long-term solution to Arsenal’s longest-standing and most troublesome problem.

But I do know that I would like to find out. I would like to see what these players have.  Can they handle the responsibility of anchoring a top-six defence on a weekly basis? Do they have the skill and mentality to be an elite defender for the rest of their career? This season could provide answers to these questions.

And for those worried about what may happen to the centre-back position if you entrust it to three highly inexperienced and unproven players, can it get any worse? Arsenal are already so poor at the position that may as well take a risk, if only to see what they have in some unknown commodities.

The centre-back options are laughably poor. Emery, I am sure, will be cursing the position group throughout the coming season. So if it can’t get any worse, why not see what you have in those that could be long-term solutions? It is time for Arsenal and Emery to take a risk.