Arsenal’s Calum Chambers has been confirmed as having joined Middlesbrough for the current season, and this could be an ideal situation for us.
The 21 year-old joined our club from Southampton, having impressed in their first team, but has struggled to earn a regular first-team role over the past year, and having fallen down the pecking order, has now been given the chance to gain more regular action elsewhere.
Chambers started the 4-3 opening weekend loss to Liverpool alongside Rob Holding, but with the imminent arrival of Shkodran Mustafi, as well as having Laurent Koscielny back available and with Gabriel Paulista set to return in the coming weeks, his opportunities to play for our first-team this season was looking highly unlikely, and he has now agreed to join Middlesbrough for the campaign.
The young defender will now take up working under former Real Madrid defender Aitor Karanka, who has played key roles in winning three Champions League winners medals previously at centre-back, and may well prove to be a big influence in guiding the youngster as he looks to make progress.
Karanka can also boast having worked under the highly successful Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid previously, and may well prove to be one of the best up-and-coming managers in football, and his side currently remain unbeaten despite earning promotion from the Championship only this summer.
The former Real Madrid player and assistant manager has now revealed his delight at the signing.
“I’m really pleased,” said Karanka. “It’s a position where we’ve been working towards bringing the right player in. We haven’t been in a hurry because Calum was the player we were waiting for, and he’s going to help us a lot.”
Will Karanka give Chambers the right tutelage to return to us ready for the first-team?
Pat J