Crystal Palace bid £16m for Arsenal defender Calum Chambers Jeremy Wilson John Percy
17 JULY 2017 • 6:46PM
Crystal Palace have made a bid of around £16 million for Arsenal defender Calum Chambers as Arsene Wenger prepares for a significant exodus of squad players this summer.Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is currently also finalising a £10 million move to Juventus, West Bromwich Albion hope to complete a deal for Kieran Gibbs and striker Lucas Perez is the subject of interest from clubs in Spain and Turkey.
With Olivier Giroud also potentially leaving, Arsenal could easily recoup more than £50 million just by selling off relatively peripheral players even before deciding on Alexis Sanchez or Mesut Ozil and
it is understood that they are open to offers for Chambers, whom they only signed three years ago from Southampton for £16 million.Chambers had a positive experience last season on loan at Middlesbrough but, after a very promising start with Arsenal, seemed to lose confidence and has struggled to find a definite role in the team. He has played full-back, central midfield and centre-back and, while technically accomplished, there have been questions about his pace or physical presence in those positions.
He was part of the England team that reached the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championship earlier this summer and started ahead of Arsenal team-mate Rob Holding in that tournament. He also has three senior England caps and, at 22, is clearly still developing.
Holding, though, finished the season by starting in Arsenal’s FA Cup final team against Chelsea and Chambers is currently also behind Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Gabriel among Wenger’s centre-backs. Per Mertesacker and Nacho Monreal may also be preferred in the new 3-4-2-1 system and it is hard to see him playing at right wing-back ahead of Hector Bellerin or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Although the Szczesny deal is close, it is understood that there is still some work to be done on completing anything with Chambers or Gibbs.
The futures of Mathieu Debuchy, Carl Jenkinson and Jack Wilshere are also finely balanced but any exit may also depend on finding clubs willing to match their current Arsenal salaries.Palace also completed the signing of Jairo Riedewald from Ajax for £8 million on Monday. Riedewald who, like Chambers, is versatile across the defensive positions, played under manager Frank de Boer at Ajax and he will join his new team-mates in Hong Kong later this week.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/17/crystal-palace-bid-16m-arsenal-defendercalum-chambers/
