BBC Sport report that Arsenal are close to signing Southampton full-back Calum Chambers for a fee in the region of £16m, breaking their own recently set transfer record for a defender.
They go so far as to say that the 19 year-old underwent a medical yesterday, and that the club are now finalising contract terms with the player after a fee was agreed with the Saints.
This may or may not come as a surprise to some, depending on how much transfer poo you read, and where you read it, but Chambers is a player that we’re said to have watched several times over the last 2 seasons.
Young, English and two-footed, he performed capably at right-back for Southampton last season, and is able to provide competent cover at left-back and centre-half as well.
Whilst obviously throwing the short, medium and long-term futures of Carl Jenkinson even further up in the air, Chambers will compensate for the loss of Sagna’s defensive versatility, and will also provide serious competition to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for who gets to be called “Chambo”.
Watch this space.
What a premium for English lads, right? Good to see that we’re still keeping one eye on the future.
I was surprised by the 16m fee, but then I was surprised by ox’s price two years ago, 21m was it? now look how far hes come.
£7mn + addons. More like £11mn…. 21mn is fetching it a bit too far.
Hopefully this is the season Ox steps up. Was hoping big time he does it last season, and boom !, injury…
It was still a bit steep. I read 15 mil but even 11 is high for the player he was if you consider the fact that Arsene has refused to pay somewhat less money for proven players. At that time we needed someone who can make a difference, not a player for the future. I guess he was confident that he will come good.
Anyone knows what time (UK time) we kick-off vs the New York RBs
today? Is it 22:00? Any of my usual sources for such info are failing me today, and am getting mightily frustrated…
you know if chelski can bring back dogba. I think its time to bring thierry henry home n let him tear apart john terrible. thierry tearing terry……………… sounds terrific!
You mean it sounds thierryific….ermm sorry, early hours.
Titi has done his thing at Arsenal, his legacy is as good as it gets. Call me cynical, but I feel like Drogba is doing an Henry when he’s signing back for Chelski, just to cement his status.
What’s the point in having a legacy for a club with no heart I wonder.
Wallet-padding
I think he’s a quality signing, hes been very good whenever I’ve seen him. The club are planning for the future as they always do which is great. I think its likely Jenkinson will go on loan this year with Chambers being 2nd choice RB and likely 4th choice CB with us replacing Vermaelen if he goes. Long term would be very interesting to see what Arsene has planned for him. BBC also say we’re in for Schneiderlin, who if we can get would be a fantastic signing, counts as homegrown too. I think either way we are in a… Read more »
You’ll stop thinking that when you see Diego Costa nutmeging Chambers and Fabregas turning Schneiderlin into a Ferris wheel. These guys are not world beaters, and would not improve us much. And we need a lot of improvement if we’re planning to close the gap with the top teams, or at least stop getting obliterated by 4-5 goals.
no
I’ve never seen Costa nutmeg anyone.
Mate Fabregas isn’t the same player he was with us. I’d take Ramsey at his current level any day.
On that note, Southampton must be flushed with money right now. If the board even makes 80% available to be used Koeman should be able to attract enough top talent to secure the club future for years to come. I do have soft spot for them lot, so I hope they do manage to stay up. But, sish, they lost quite a few of their spine already and the sales does not seem to be slowing down, Lovren, Bothroyd and Schnerdelin next out of the door?
I feel for Southampton, its turned into a spiral effect, the more players leave the more are unhappy and want to go. At this point I would be more suprised to see Schneiderlin stay than to leave. However the truth is this could prove to be a good summer for them IF they manage to stay up heres why. Schnederlin lets say 25m Chambers 15m Lalllana 25m Lovren 20m Shaw 27m Lambert 3m They are conservative fees. Thats 115m, they’ll probably raise another 10m from selling Osavaldo so lets say 125m. Theyve spent 20m replacing Lambert and Lallana, theres rumours… Read more »
Vlaar is the only asset Villa have at present. Don’t see him leaving for less than 12m, even if he’s nearly 30.
Is he a potential replacement for Verminator?
Don’t really understand this one. Need an experienced centre half, not a 19 year old full back. Overpriced too.
Yeah, so many experienced or top class players will want to be 4th choice CB.
Calum can also play CB
Well this came out of nowhere! Typical Arsenal move, out of the smokescreens comes a shiny new player no one knew we were in for. Adds to the ex Southampton contingent and hopefully Ox and Theo have him feeling at home in no time. Great business so far by Arsenal, I’m happy were doing business early, though I’d love nothing more than a last minute Ozil esque signing. A man can dream!
Am I being greedy when I say I want Reus? Very happy with the business we have done if the transfer window was to close tomorrow. But a squad where we have 3/4 options in every position. Left wing is still missing one more speed merchant.
Forget answering my question, I know I’m being greedy. 😀
Reus unlikely to go anywhere this year with his injury over the summer, especially given how Klopp has been talking him up already. Very similar to the Walcott situation with us this year. Who knows if Reus will move next year- but I have a feeling one of him or Draxler will go to Bayern Munich in the next year or two to replace the aging wide players they currently have. Shaquiri fits the bill to take the place of Robben, and one of either Draxler or Reus would take the place of Ribery. Griezmann is the most likely of… Read more »
Where do you think Cambell will play, or is he blind on his right side? I have a strong feeling Cambell and Sanches and even Wali will help Podilski and Girude out quite a bit in getting high up on the pith. I like the Grizman idea, but then I would much rather have Di Maria. I would love to know what that guy has to do to receive some respect, plus, he reminds me u bit of Arsene’s hungry dog “characteristic”.
While the last-minute Ozil signing was pretty freaking sweet, I’m sure we would’ve loved an early Ozil signing, as it means the players have a pre-season
Umm…do you not know that we’ve signed Sanchez?
I think the argument is that Özil would have benefitted from a pre-season last summer. I don’t think anyone would argued with that though.
WHAT? WE SIGNED SANCHEZ? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? WHY DID NOBODY TELL MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No it didn’t.
Sounds interesting. I’ve been hearing how he can also play cdm. Anything in that?
Realistically he’s probably not a better DM than Arteta at this point.
He used to play as a holding midfielder before they moved him to RB, back before he made it into the first team. Whether Wenger is hoping to turn him back into an anchor man type role is anyone’s guess. As we all know, Wenger has been more than willing to sign players and then move them to a different position, sometimes with tremendous success and sometimes with not-so-much success.
If that is the plan, I would think it would be with the intent of playing Arteta there for another year and training Chambers to be his replacement next year.
Headscratcher this, What does this mean for the corporal? Really want him to make it at the club.. Arsene knows best I guess
According to the article he can play across the whole back line, which means he should be able to pick up a decent amount of game time regardless of the Jenkinson situation.
According to the blurb above the boy plays with both feet. That means he can play left and right side
Unless he has that opthalmic condition that Bobby Pires had, where his vision was restricted to his right hand side…
I hope we’ve signed Chambers as a CB and general defensive cover and we keep the Corporal! I want to see him celebrate more goals for us like he just won the world cup.
Seriously, £16m for a guy that has played 23 senior games (a lot of them as 5 min substitute).
Is he that much better than Carl Jenkinson?
Wouldn’t it make more sense if we keep Jenkinson & then loan this young Chambers fella to other clubs for his first season to get more game time & experience? He’s 19, I’m sure he got a great potential, but if we really wanna have a go at the tittle this season, I’m more confident in our Carl to be the back up right back, cos he’s already well integrated into our team.
I can’t comment in any great detail on his playing ability, but the following statement about his experience is demonstrably incorrect: “Seriously, £16m for a guy that has played 23 senior games (a lot of them as 5 min substitute).” (1) Of the 24 senior games he played last season (22 PL and 2 LC), Chambers started on 20 occasions. Of those 20 starts, he completed the full 90 minutes on 17 occasions (and was substituted in the 88th minute against Everton). In total, he spent 1,821 minutes on the pitch plus added time. (2) The fee isn’t much higher… Read more »
Cyril your quest for the truth is an example to us all
as an aside, southamptons academy is really outstanding at present, really similar to west ham in the 90’s. surely an example for us to follow.
or we could just, y’know, steal all their players when they get good. im easy either way
Or when they get relegated because they sold their current 1st team. They’ll all be cheaper then, and we can get them as a job lot.
Depending on the “news site” the price range range from 7-16 million for Chambers.
Not sure if Jenko should be worried about the short term future. Maybe I’m being overly conspiratorial, but we do seem to be bringing in a two-footed fullback right as the Nacho-to-Atletico rumors are heating up . . .
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nacho did decide to look elsewhere, he’s pretty much anonymous what with Gibbs finally settling his number one spot. Still, Gibbs is a bit too young to have an understudy, and what with this season being so promising it’s hard to think a player would want to LEAVE the Emirates to go to club that lost its star player to Chelsea.
No, Monreal is a good back up for Gibbs, he should stay. Also having quite a few new players coming in, we don’t want to be looking for another, signing too many players at once is not good for the squad in the short term, look how it messed Spurs up last year and watch how it messes Liverpool up this season. Also lets face it Gibbs hasnt had the best of lucky with injuries or mistaken sending offs. So theres plenty of games to go around.
If we go for the quintiple there should be enough games for everybody.
Look at today’s league table and you will see that we are top already.
Up The Arsenal
He was pointing out that Nacho is the one who decides where Nacho plays. It’s not about what we want. We can all hope he wants to stay, but if he really wants to go then not even Wenger will be able to stop him.
Wow! The more I read about his versatility, the more sense I see in the signing. Just waiting to see who departs the club with all these signings.
What a summer! I feel like a poor kid whose dad just won a huge contract. Loving the way we are doing business.
Get used to it, this is all because the clubs long term planning and sacrifice which people were quick to forget when criticising the club over the last few years. We have an extra 22m a year from Puma deal compared to what we were getting from Nike, an extra 20m a year from the newer Emirates deal. Also when we get into the champions league next year when BT starts showing it, we will be getting an extra 10-15m per year. So all in all an extra 52-57m EVERY YEAR as well as us having paid the short term… Read more »
Exactly what I think. He’s a exciting, young prospect and provides cover at right back, center back and left back. He kinda solves our defensive problems.
As for Jenkinson, he’s 22 now and needs to play regular football, so signing Chambers allows him to spend loan some time at another Premier League club and improve himself and gain experience.
Another spot on signing. COYG.
According to the guardian the Arsenal board are trying to maintain a British core and want to develop our current players. This probably explains Wilshere opportunity to be the anchorman and Chambers signing.
This could only mean good things for Arsenal and England. COYG!
No, I’m fairly certain that’s rubbish.
How is that rubbish?! Wenger said himself how important the British core was when we gave bumper new contracts to Wilshere, Ramsey, Gibbs, Jenko and the Ox.
The Arsenal board don’t interfere at all in team matters or ‘put pressure’ on Arsene Wenger to do anything.
I think it has more to do with the sheer numbers of midfielders we have at the club. I would love to see a Schneiderlin/Khedira type player come in, but we would have to make room in the squad.
25 man squad limit.
This is getting interesting!
U21 players are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players per squad.
Which is probably why Jenkinson will be going out on loan to another Premier League team (hopefully). He’s definitely past the Championship loan stage. Perhaps Southampton will take him. I hear they’re down one RB at the moment.
the 25 squad limit does not include players that are under 21 I think
In the premier league, yes. In the champions league, they also have to have been with the club for at least two years. So he (as well as Sanogo) would take up a spot in the 25 man champions league squad., but not in the premier league squad.
Lucky we just bought somebody who can play in the CL at RB then, isn’t it?
This might be a fatuous thought, but maybe this means Jenkinson’s long term future is as a central defender.
Quite the opposite, I’d think. Chambers has the skills to play inside, while Jenkinson’s pace and attacking skills mark him as a full back. I would say that with Chambers in, if this rumor turns out to be true, Jenkinson could go out on loan so the club could see if he can be an every day starting right back for a top club. If he proves out, when Debuchy moves on, and remember, Debuchy is 29, Jenkinson would be ready to take his place. If Jenkinson doesn’t prove out, or if Chambers looks to be better, the loan will… Read more »
I was thinking the exact same thing. I really like Jenks. Plays with real passion cos he’s one of us actually living the dream. A tidy player too given the amount of game time gets and can only get better. Would be really disappointed if he left or started the loan journey to oblivion.
Mirror reporting the fee to be £7 million. So possibly it is 16m with add ons.
I just really hope we do not sell Jenko
me too. any true gooner surely can’t deny that it’s heartwarming to see a fellow gooner play for their club and live the dream.
Good signing by Wenger.I have a feeling chambers will be trained as a CB and LB position as well
Ideally Chambers gets a decent amount of games wherever he is needed across the back, Jenks gets a berth with a team like Southampton and regular football brings on his development, and next season Chambers can look more to CB while Jenks comes back in to challenge for RB with the aging (30!!!!) Debuchy.
Guess this means our young Corporal will be sent up front to play as center forward. It’s the next logical step.
Much better than 30m luke shaw.
Ok some speculation required here… This looks like a very imminent replacement for a very imminent departure of Vermaelen to Barcelona or somewhere.
Does it really? I rather hope we would replace Vermaelen with someone over 21 with actual experience playing centre back at a high level.
Selling Vermaelen for me would be crazy. In central defence understanding and familiarity is key, and letting Verminator go means not only do we have to replace him, but at some point during the season when Kos/Mert get injured or needs a rest we’d have to play Chambers or a new CB. One is very raw still, and the other has only trained with them for a short period. I say hold Vermaelen to his contract and try to get a new CB in who’s somewhere in his early-mid 20’s, ready to learn and take over when Kos or Per… Read more »
More likely 16m in total with add-ons. Maybe 7-12m up front.
He seems to me like a versatile player who can play a number of positions and is home grown.
And we’ve had great success with Saints players in the past.
Yeah i think we can be sure the fee is not the 16m quoted by BBC. Im guessing due to different reports a max of 12m
Well you never know. Southampton have got so much money right now from sales they could have played hard ball with Chambers – I mean his a young lad who I had seen no movement of wanting to leave on his part. Either way it’s a great signing, not sure about him playing CB but he will do a fine job at LB.
God news for arsenal
Putting aside sentiment, is there any reason why the club should feel obligated to save a future RB space for Carl Jenkinson? We’d never be fretting over his future if he wasn’t English and a Gooner. Never. Bring on the blood red thumbs!
If your aunt had nuts she’d be your uncle. The English bit I can take or leave, but Jenko’s a gooner through and through and that earns him a lot of affection from me.
Affection, yes. Place in Arsenal’s starting eleven? Not so sure.
Ah, but Wenger did play Fabianski in the FA Cup final. I think he’s getting soft-hearted in his old age.
Either that or he had to promise Fabianski up front that he wouldn’t play Chesney in the FA Cup unless injury forced him to. He’s pulled the plug on a goalie for a Final before now.
Seems like a good deal considering the kid’s versatility. Also I am interested to see what Arsene’s English Core leads to. Maybe next Euros we may see Gibbs, Chambers(?), Jenko, Wilshere, Ox and Walcott all start. Either way can’t really complain with this signing – If we are signing someone young there isn’t anyone better than Arsene to aid in his development. Also on a completely unrelated note, as a Gooner from India I am so excited that Freddie Ljungberg(!) is going to be playing the ISL here next here. I can’t wait for him to tear up defences here… Read more »
RB for the Euros I feel will be another Southampton lad – Clyne. I doubt they would sell him as his much more important to them in the present, rather than Chambers. Not that Chambers does not have a future in the England set up if he keeps progressing and gets the game time.
He will most likely be our 4th choice CB as well (assuming Vermaelen stays).
Jenks will be the next Lee Dixon, you wait Nd see…..and while we’re waiting, why not get some kick ass fullbacks to push him along?
I watched him play plenty of times last season and was impressed. But was always on the right side. Never really saw much of his Ariel ability to be able to slot into the centre. But arsene knows best. No one knew who koscielny was before we outlayed 10 mill for him.
According to Squawka, Chambers plays an excellent Little Mermaid.
I prefer Bold 2 in 1 to Ariel. It saves having to buy separate fabric conditioner.
Can’t say I’m delighted this is where we’re putting our resources to be honest…
Fatgooner, is that you in disguise?
I think we should all be excited that we are buying players before we replace them. Good times.
Consider the crazy notion that we groom Chambers as a replacement for Vermalean and keep Jenkinson at the club! Also BBC reports we are in for Schneiderlin. Tryna get in before Liverpool cleans the shelves at Southhampton
Got to feel for Southampton fans. Side is being decimated. Real short term vision by their board.
I don’t think I’ve seen a team pillaged like this since West Ham in the Naughties…
The club’s coffers must be bulging to with cash.
Very strange.
What with getting players from Barcelona and Real Madrid, let’s get Boateng from the Germans!
Unexpected signing but he will give us lots of cover in defence. A lot of money
to pay for such an inexperienced player but great things are expected from him.
Another gem from the fantastic Southampton youth system.
Jenko for the centre back spot? I don’t know, but I do know that I’d
Never before has a supposed transfer caused such widespread confusion amongst the Arseblog faithful.
Clearly you’ve forgotten about a certain Park Chu Young…
A legend of the sport.
Just to complete what I was saying, I would be so disappointed to see him leave..
It’s ok…I got emotional too…
I don’t see this as the end of Jenkinson at all. Chambers could be a replacement at CB if TV5 does leave, he could act as a 4th CB so Arsenal can rotate the squad for cup games; Gibbs, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Debuchy for league; Monreal, Chambers, Vermelen, Jenkinson for League Cup & early round FA Cup.
If Arsenal do sign Chambers, they would be two players deep at ever position.
Giroud/Campbell
Podolski/Cazorla, Ozil/Cazorla, Sanchez/Walcott
Ramsey/Wishire, Arteta/Flamini
Gibbs/Monreal, Koscielny/TV5, Mertesacker/Chambers, Debuchy/Jenkinson
Szczesny/Ospina
With Chamberlain, Rosicky, Sanogo, Diaby, and Gnabry as reserve first teamers
He used to play in midfield before they changed him over to a RB. If this is actually happening, it may be a “cover all our backup needs with one guy” sort of thing. He can play anywhere across the back four +midfield, so he ticks a lot of boxes on that front. Although I’m not really sure about the wisdom of signing a 19 year old to fill in in a bunch of different positions as needed, seems like it puts tremendous pressure on someone that young.
Sure, but has anyone ever seen him play LB or CB? It just seems to be something everyone is saying (everyone says it about all defenders).
Just seen he played CB for a half for the England Under 19s in friendly – I guess that it is when!
Man Utd have done a similar thing with Phil Jones & honestly it has affected his game. At Blackburn he was a beast at CB but hasn’t progressed in his time with Man Yoo.
John Terry is a Cunt
If we’re buying Chambers why didn’t we just spend the money and buy Aurier? Curious move by Wenger
Aurier is a good prospect, but Chambers helps our ‘home-grown’ player total to comply with squad rules… and, won’t be unavailable due to the ACON also
Having players we pay good money for out of contention for selection for two months every two seasons makes African players, unless they are absolutely exceptional quality, pretty poor value. Until the African Football Conferderation move their tournament to a four year cycle best look elsewhere for players of comparable quality.
Chambers will be better than Aurier. He’s the prospect at RB we wanted all along, I reckon, to go along with the established purchase of Debuchy.
We needed depth in the centre back position. We got it.
As a bonus, he can cover other defensive positions.
The Jenko will hopefully and fight for his place. Debuchy is 28/29. These two would be fighting for the RB spot in a few years. Can we have Reus, Bender, Cavani, khedeira, Ochoa, Hummels. Good times can stimulate dreams
Is it possible that he may be a replacement for Nacho on the left back position. Had the feeling that the boss wasn’t massively impressed with him last season and maybe he wants to correct something on that position. Already had that thought when I heard about the Manquillo rumors.
We’ve signed a solid replacement for sagna, looks like ospina is done so theres competition for woj, and we’ve signed alexis fucking sanchez. I don’t even know who this chambers guy is but I say hello welcome to arsenal.
How many poos?
1). so we will have paid 28m for two right backs? makes no sense.
2) by what logic does he provide competition for attacker Oxlaide Chamberlain?
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They will be competing for the name Chambo. Like the article says. Oh and I’m putting my money on Chambers being signed as a CB.
Good to see Arseblog constipated when reporting this. Long may it last.
Didn’t Wenger say not more than 3 players should be bought in the same transfer window? I don’t have a problem with buying Callum but I want Jenko to stay.
But Arsene knows the best.
If my memory serves, I think he was referring to the integration of first-team players in the same transfer window.
Since when did we start complaining about the fee, we always wanted wenger to spend, he is now doing it, let’s deal with it just as we’ve been doing when he isn’t buying!
So where does this rate on the poo-o-meter blogs?
now turning to morgan schederlin
Poo meter? Where the fuck is the poo meter on this one.
The Guardian’s football reporting is appalling.
This totally suprised me. Can play as left back too? Maybe this is more bye bye monreal who has been a target for atletico? Rather than curtains for jenks. This is SO un arsenal. 16M for a player we probably thought we bought already in dubuchy. I hope we still have the coin to get a DM and big young CB.
Not a good time to be a Southampton fan! Hardly any players left!!!
There’s some poo-ness in the reported price, though. BBC says 16m, Guardian 10m and Mirror 6m. All figures in poo-unds…