Calum Chambers has rejected the chance to re-join his former club Southampton on loan this summer, according to The Sun.
The 20-year-old joined Arsenal last summer from the Saints for undisclosed fee (believed to be around the £16 million mark plus add-ons), making 36 appearances in all competitions in his debut season.
However, the England international saw less action in the second-half of last season after the emergence of Hector Bellerin.
And with reports suggesting Arsene Wenger is keen to strengthen his back-line, it could mean Chambers will be seen even less next season.
Chambers was on a list of six players who I believe should leave the club this summer, albeit on loan to gain more first-team experience and game time, but it seems he has chosen to stay at the Emirates and fight for the chance to play for the Gunners’ first-team next season instead of moving back to his old club.
Should Wenger not decide to bring any defensive reinforcements, then Chambers could well challenge Bellerin and Mathieu Debucy for the right-back spot, or even attempt to disrupt the regular centre-back pairing of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny after making some appearances in this position last season.
Southampton will be looking to replace the departed Nathaniel Clyne, who joined Liverpool, but will now have to explore other options after failing to tempt Chambers away from Arsenal.
Hopefully Wenger hands him some opportunities this season, it would be a shame if Chambers development took a backseat – hence why a loan move away would have perhaps been his best bet at regular first-team football.
Says a lot about the modern game – he’d rather sit on the bench and take the money
from a saints fan pov its good because I would rather they put faith in their own players rather than train up another but he would have gained great experience at a club that boasts a better defence 😉
Both Calum Chambers and Per Mertesacker are slow players are not first team players in central defense . Chambers is not better than Hector Bellerin.Hector who is one of the fastest players in the premier league as well he is not better than Mathieu Debucy who has better experience at the highest level of football . Calum Chambers is a nice guy and a good player , but the best option for him is to go on loan next season to get more playing than sitting on the bench most of the season at Arsenal .
He’s not good enough for saints
I heard Saints don’t want him back now they have Soares.
This whole story smells like journalist bullshit. Saints wouldn’t have offered Chambers any more game time then they did when he was there before – as a backup to Soares rather than Clyne. And they’ve already bought a back-up right back this summer. They never really played him as centre-back and no-one seems to think he’s good enough to hold down a regular premier league place there yet. So he’d just be sat on their bench instead.
He’d play more if they still owned him, but why would they work on developing a player for someone else?