When Mikel Arteta came in at Arsenal, he gave everyone a clean slate, however, Calum Chambers was one of the few players who were still considered to be the requirement to surplus. And it seemed it was a matter of when and not if he will be sold to make way for other players Mikel Arteta wants to bring in.
Fast forward to almost a year and Calum Chambers seemed to be Mikel Arteta’s first-choice right-back even with Hector Bellerin and Cedric Soares still being a part of the squad. The reasons for his surprising promotion from being a fringe player to a first-team player are many, some of his doing and some just circumstances playing the way out how he would have wanted.
Hector Bellerin seems to be on his way out of the club with several reports stating that the Spaniard wants to move on from the club he joined as a child in search of a new challenge as he doesn’t want to waste his prime years being a part of another rebuild. While Cedric Soares was always bought to be a backup and while he has done well whenever given an opportunity, it doesn’t seem that he has done enough to earn Mikel Arteta’s trust.
In Calum Chambers, Mikel Arteta has got a player who can play a not-so-typical role that he wants his right-backs to play. He wants his right-back to underlap, overlap, drop back at centre-back and invert into the midfield as per the requirement of the situation, and Chambers experience at playing centre-back, right-back, and as a central defensive midfielder has helped him in playing out all of the roles asked to him.
While these are still early days, Calum Chambers is making a strong case to be considered as a permanent occupant of the right-back spot next season.
