Six months into the season, let’s have a look at how each of Arsenal’s loanees is doing so far.
1Krystian Bielik
- Position: Centre-back/Defensive Midfield
- Loaned to: Charlton – League One
- Appearances: 23
- Goals: 2
- Assists: 1
- Clean sheets: 9
Krystian Bielik started the campaign in decent form, before picking up another injury. That sparked concerns that this season could turn out the same way as his last one, where he barely played. However, the defender has since returned to the pitch and put together a run of 19 consecutive league appearances.
Bielik moved back and forth between the Charlton defence and defensive midfield at first, but he’s been playing as a midfielder since mid-November, so it seems he’s set to play there for the remainder of the season. He’s earning a lot of positive reviews and has become a key part of the League One side.
The main thing is that the Polish u21 international is staying fit, since recovering from that injury in September. Arsenal already have enough centre-backs taking regular injury breaks, so Bielik needs to keep proving he can be more reliable.
Loan rating: 7.5/10
Calum Chambers
- Position: Centre-back/Defensive Midfield
- Loaned to: Fulham – Premier League
- Appearances: 20
- Goals: 1
- Clean sheets: 2
On the surface, Chambers has had a very similar loan spell to Bielik. He started as a first-choice centre-back, before dropping out of the team and picking up an injury. Then he moved to defensive midfield and has remained there ever since.
The Englishman hasn’t had quite the same rave reviews as his Polish counterpart, but he’s certainly earning more praise as the season goes on. He’s playing in a much more competitive league than Bielik of course.
Under Claudio Ranieri, Chambers has been a regular fixture in the team, but they still need to do more as a group to have any chance of staying up this season.
Loan rating: 6/10
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