4 transfer decisions that cost Arsenal tens of millions

2. Calum Chambers – £20m

One of the longest serving players at the club currently, the opportunity was there for Arsenal to make a profit on a player three years on from his arrival who was not part of the first team plans.

As reported by the BBC, and elsewhere, in the summer of 2017 Leicester saw two offers of around £20m rejected by Arsene Wenger’s side, who had informed Crystal Palace earlier in the window that they wanted a whole £27m.

All this despite Calum Chambers spending the 2016/17 campaign on loan at Middlesbrough having been told he was far down the pecking order in the Gunners’ central defensive slots.

He subsequently made only ten Premier League starts in the following campaign as form and fitness alluded him and the opportunity to make some money in a window where £50m was spent on Lacazette was turned down.

The fear of losing a young Englishman to a fellow Premier League side got the better of Wenger. It shouldn’t have, and now we sit here with hindsight on our side seeing how the following four years panned out for Chambers in north London.