The whole market has deflated too

The question we need to ask with Chambers is if we bring in a centre back do we need him?

We’d have a top 4 of new centre back, Saliba, Mari, Luiz. We need to start shifting the other guys. They’re just eating up 50-100k each every week. Our focus should be on funding the first 11.

I reckon there isn't a defender at Arsenal who's unexpendable, aside from maybe Saliba who's a complete unknown, but Chambers is the last guy I would ship of the known qualities in the squad. It's like with Maitland-Niles: why would anyone sell the players who have the most talent, the most years left of their careers, and the most upside in terms of future development? Especially when there are older guys around who perform to a lesser standard and would fetch bigger (or at least as big) fees? We've spent years talking about the need to be smarter in the market. This isn't smart.

Klaus wrote:

I reckon there isn't a defender at Arsenal who's unexpendable, aside from maybe Saliba who's a complete unknown, but Chambers is the last guy I would ship of the known qualities in the squad. It's like with Maitland-Niles: why would anyone sell the players who have the most talent, the most years left of their careers, and the most upside in terms of future development? Especially when there are older guys around who perform to a lesser standard and would fetch bigger (or at least as big) fees? We've spent years talking about the need to be smarter in the market. This isn't smart.

While id agree chambers could be kept. 

I think we also ahve to be aware weve got 2-3 months of good form in 6 years. Thats 6 years of paying his wages. 

We should never have made the Mari deal permanent. If we're buying Gabriel then it could be him, Saliba and Luiz on a new contract. Keep Chambers and ship two of Mustafi, Holding and Sokratis. Actually we could've just tried to ship all three and just kept whoever we didn't manage to.

speedy wrote:

While id agree chambers could be kept.

I think we also ahve to be aware weve got 2-3 months of good form in 6 years. Thats 6 years of paying his wages.

I get what you're saying. He's been out on loan for two years and doing pretty well though, and I don't reckon we paid his wages during that time. I don't think he's on much money either compared to the other guys.

Isn't the issue with AMN that he doesn't want to play fullback long term?

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

We should never have made the Mari deal permanent. If we're buying Gabriel then it could be him, Saliba and Luiz on a new contract. Keep Chambers and ship two of Mustafi, Holding and Sokratis. Actually we could've just tried to ship all three and just kept whoever we didn't manage to.

The team is full of all these predicaments.
On Chambers, on paper, he looks like the guy best suited for Arteta. We need defenders who are comfortable on the ball and passing; and then should be able to cover large distances. And he has the added flexibility of being able to play 3 positions. So on paper he’s ahead of these other guys. But we might sit around another 6 months waiting for him to find form. We have too many pieces floating about in defense, and we need to resolve that space.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

We should never have made the Mari deal permanent.

It's looking weirder by each passing day for sure. I'm fine with taking a chance at him if Arteta really believes in him, but if he did then why are we going for another young and unproven defender in Gabriel right now by the looks of it? I really don't like that we have like 8 centrebacks on our books and every single one of them has some form of compromising issue. Somehow we've managed to stock up on more of them instead of getting rid of them.

innervisionscm wrote:

Isn't the issue with AMN that he doesn't want to play fullback long term?

He says he's got no issues with it, but who knows what's going on really.

Nice to see you around again by the way, mate.

Klaus wrote:

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

We should never have made the Mari deal permanent.

It's looking weirder by each passing day for sure. I'm fine with taking a chance at him if Arteta really believes in him, but if he did then why are we going for another young and unproven defender in Gabriel right now by the looks of it? I really don't like that we have like 8 centrebacks on our books and every single one of them has some form of compromising issue. Somehow we've managed to stock up on more of them instead of getting rid of them.

Mari is injured. Chambers is injured. Mustafi is injured. Holding doesn’t look fit.
In addition to having millions of defenders, a bunch of them are injured or recovering from injury. It’s why I would sell Chambers if someone is willing to take the risk as we can’t carry this much “fat”.

Claudius wrote:

Klaus wrote:

It's looking weirder by each passing day for sure. I'm fine with taking a chance at him if Arteta really believes in him, but if he did then why are we going for another young and unproven defender in Gabriel right now by the looks of it? I really don't like that we have like 8 centrebacks on our books and every single one of them has some form of compromising issue. Somehow we've managed to stock up on more of them instead of getting rid of them.

Mari is injured. Chambers is injured. Mustafi is injured. Holding doesn’t look fit.

Yeah, and Luiz is a high risk player with more valleys than peaks, Mavropanos is raw in addition to always being injured, and Sokratis is so far over the hill that you can't even see him anymore. Not a pretty picture, is it? And now we're trying to add Gabriel who (although it's neither here nor there) I have to say doesn't look that great in compilations, is pretty young, and doesn't even have a full season as a starter in a weak league under his belt... and Saliba is coming in, whose entire career as a player constitutes ₂₅ starts in that same weak league.

I just think Chambers has a bigger squad value than monetary value in that scenario, especially for the fees that have been quoted. I accept there's a risk he might not be right after the ACL though, or that he might need a long adjustment period once he's back.

Other factor to consider include if we are able to shift anyone else in time for it to be effective in this transfer window ahead of the new season. It may take us longer to shift some of the deadwood in the post-COVID market, and if we really want to sign players we really want/need for next season, we may need to sell some of our bench in order to do so.

I really don't believe it's more difficult to shift a few other players than a bloke who's recovering from a ruptured ACL. It just seems so unlikely.

Really? He's younger, English, HG, more adapt at playing well enough in different positions, and he's got recent history with the club in question where he was POTY when on loan.

And he's got an ACL.

So if they make an offer we should not be prepared to do business?
My understanding is Fulham that have expressed an interest that has given rise to this.

We shouldn't do business for that kind of money, no, I genuinely don't think so. And no one's going to pay what he's actually worth, because he's got an ACL.

12 is a joke. At least 20, didn't we pay 17?