Unai Emery comments show that Arteta made the right call over shock Arsenal sale

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Former Arsenal boss Unai Emery reunited with ex-Gunner Calum Chambers at Aston Villa, but it has been far from a fairytale reunion.

Chambers made a sudden exit from Arsenal in January 2022, as the defender joined Aston Villa on a free transfer, with no previous suggestion that he was set to depart the club.

He had barely featured in the Premier League as new arrivals Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu surpassed him in the pecking order, but did score in the Carabao Cup in one of his final appearances for the club.

Mikel Arteta preferred Cedric Soares and Rob Holding, despite Chambers putting in several impressive performances as a right-back in the second half of the previous season.

Some were baffled by his departure, as Arsenal gained nothing financially from the deal, but had lost a depth option, who was not replaced.

Injuries to White and Tomiyasu in the run-in saw Cedric and Holding step in, and Arsenal’s challenge for a top four spot rapidly collapsed, with some fans later pondering what might have happened if Chambers was the backup option instead.

Unai Emery tells Calum Chambers to leave Aston Villa

Emery reunited with Emi Martinez and Chambers when he took the Villa job in the winter of 2022, and whilst the former has thrived since, Chambers has found himself a fringe player at Villa Park, having moved there in search of first team football.

The former Arsenal manager has now stated that Chambers is expected to leave this month, two years after he joined.

“Some players can leave. Calum Chambers and Bertrand Traore can leave, and in that case we can think about adding some players, but not at the moment,” Emery stated in a press conference yesterday.

Is Arteta now vindicated for his decision over Calum Chambers?

Looking back at what happened in the run-in, Arsenal may have been better off keeping Chambers for a few extra months, given that they did not even receive a fee for him.

However, Arteta may now feel vindicated for his decision to let him go in the middle of the season. Chambers has not exactly succeeded at Villa, and two years on, the 28-year-old will be on the move again, having still not played a full season of regular football for a very long time.

Chambers had a lot of promise when he arrived from Southampton in 2014, but he made just 122 appearances for the club, with his final league appearance coming in a 5-0 defeat away at Manchester City.

Like Holding, he was simply not at the required level at the time of his departure, nor was he a viable solution to Arsenal’s injury crisis at the time, and his time at Villa has done nothing to prove Arteta made the wrong choice.