Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka has tipped Arsenal loanee Calum Chambers to improve as a player over the course of the season at the Riverside Stadium.
The versatile defender has been sent to Teeside in a bid to offer him regular first-team football in the Premier League, with the former Southampton starlet potentially set to make his debut for the North East club this weekend.
Arsenal have signed Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia to end their selection worries at centre-half and as such Chambers was facing the prospect of limited football had he stayed in North London.
However, the newly promoted Middlesbrough seem like an ideal destination for the 21-year-old, who is able to fit in at centre-half, right-back or in a midfield anchor role.
Karanka has stated that Chambers will be an effective addition for his team and that he hopes to help the young defender progress as a player during his time with the club.
“He has come here to help us. I brought him here to help him because at the end of the season, the main thing is that we can stay in the Premier League and Calum can go back to Arsenal as a better player.
“Always the marks are at the end and for that reason, I think the marks will be good because he is a good player. He is coming to help us, to put pressure on different players and as a really, really good alternative for me.
“I have had a lot of experience with players who have come here and maybe they hadn’t played the games they expected to play, but after coming here they went back to their clubs having lived an amazing experience and improving.
“Sometimes it’s true that you have to play a lot of games, but sometimes players who haven’t played here went to other places and came back better players. It’s the same thing when we send players on loan.”
