Arsenal and Manchester United are set to go head to head in the battle to prise defender Calum Chambers away from Southampton this summer,
Chambers is the latest young star to emerge from the Saints’ famed academy, after the likes of Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana, and has enjoyed his breakthrough year under Mauricio Pochettino, competing with fellow right-back Nathaniel Clyne for a starting spot.
The 19-year-old has attracted admiring glances from afar and both Arsene Wenger and David Moyes are believed to be huge fans of the youngster, who seems set for big things.
Wenger’s interest in Chambers dates well back to his days as an under-16 at St Mary’s, but it has intensified with the suggestions Bacary Sagna will reject the terms offered to him by the Gunners.
That would entitle Sagna to a Bosman transfer this summer and leave Arsenal with a vacancy to fill in the right-back slot, with Chambers emerging as the first-choice option.
Sagna is reportedly demanding a three-year deal at wages of over £100,000 per week, a figure the Gunners hierarchy are seeminly not prepared to stretch to, and it has resulted in an impasse between club and player.
The report also suggests that, despite Chambers penning a new four-year contract last summer, the Saints prodigy could be available for around the £10m mark.
United will have a say in the final destination of Chambers with Moyes looking at the possibility of a triple deal which would see Lallana, Shaw and the fellow full-back move to Old Trafford.
Written by Steve Milne