Calum Chambers has admitted he’ll always be grateful for the support the Fulham fans showed him this season, despite the club’s eventual relegation.
Fulham finished the Premier League season on 26 points, 10 shy of safety from relegation. Even that flatters them a bit, as nine of those points came from wins after they were already down, with the pressure off.
Despite a terrible season from the side in general, Arsenal loanee Chambers did pretty well overall, and he earned a lot of praise from the Fulham fans as a result. The supporters regularly took to the 24-year-old’s Twitter page to thank him for being one of few who gave their all until the end. Chambers was clearly grateful for that.
“I wanted to commit fully when I came here and give it absolutely everything,” he said. “I would definitely say that’s what I’ve done here, given everything on the pitch. Obviously, I’m gutted that we got relegated, and I think every player should be. A club like this belongs in the Premier League.
“I think the thing that will stick with me the most is the fans. From the start I had, the reaction they’ve given me since then, since I started playing midfield, has been pretty amazing, to be honest. The support I’ve seen them give me has been fantastic and I’ll forever be grateful for that.”
Chambers ended up making 33 appearances for Fulham throughout the season, most of which were in midfield. Despite joining The Cottagers as a centre-back, they clearly felt they could get more out of him in the middle, and in fairness, his performances were much better there.
The issue is that Arsenal don’t really need Chambers in the middle. If anything, the Gunners have too many defensive/deep-lying midfielders at the moment, with Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Mohamed Elneny and the returning Krystian Bielik all competing for one or two spots.
Given the Englishman didn’t spend much of the season developing his game at centre-back, it seems unlikely he’s going to slot in there for Arsenal either. Whilst this loan was good for Chambers individually and should have boosted his market value a bit, it may still end up being the end of his career as a Gunner. We’ll have to wait and see.