Arsenal don’t have the option to recall Calum Chambers from his loan spell at Fulham, according to reports this week.

After news that Rob Holding will miss the next 6-9 months with injury, ruling him out of the entirety of the rest of the campaign, some Arsenal fans started to call on the club to recall Calum Chambers.

The decision to loan Chambers wasn’t particularly popular in the first place after the defender appeared to have a good pre-season. With the likes of Laurent Koscielny and Konstantinos Mavropanos spending so much time on the sidelines already, and Holding now joining them, Arsenal could use defensive reinforcements.

However, the Evening Standard write that they understand there is no clause in Fulham’s loan agreement with Arsenal to allow the club to recall him in January.

Chambers hasn’t actually been playing at centre-back recently anyway. Under new Fulham boss Claudio Ranieri, the Englishman has found a place in the defensive midfield, and may well end up remaining there for the rest of his loan spell.

If Arsenal want to go into the second half of the season with a more confidence that another injury crisis won’t derail the campaign, they’ll have to look to invest in a new defender in January.