Arsenal: Arsene Wenger ready to sanction loan move for Calum Chambers with Southampton interested

Arsene Wenger is ready to sanction a loan move for Calum Chambers after the Arsenal defender failed to break into the first team owing to the presence of Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista ahead of him in the pecking order. The England international is keen to play regular first-team football, something that the French manager cannot guarantee at the moment.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Wenger is ready to allow him to leave the club on a temporary basis this summer in order to gain more experience playing with the first team. He is highly rated by the Frenchman, who signed him from Southampton for £16m ($23m) but is yet to be given a consistent run in the team.

Chambers endured a frustrating 2015/16 campaign with the north London club with just two out of his 12 Premier League appearances coming from the start. The defender, who was capped by England following his breakthrough at Arsenal, has fallen down the pecking order yet again and is now back with the Three Lions U21 setup and was part of the squad that recently won the Toulon tournament.

The Telegraph reports that Wenger is keen on signing a new central defender after being unconvinced with the performances of Mertesacker and Gabriel, which will push Chambers further down in the pecking order and with the defender keen to play on a regular basis, he is likely to be sent out on loan, much like Carl Jenkinson was in the last couple of campaigns. The defender, however, was not keen to shed any further light on his future plans apart from wanting more game time.

"For me, I just want to play games, so, yeah, that's it for me. But at the moment I am not thinking too much about next season, I just want to go and enjoy my summer. Then we'll get back at it soon," Chambers said fresh from his triumph with the England U21 side, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

According to the Mirror, Chambers' boyhood club Southampton are leading the race to sign him on loan in the summer as Ronald Koeman looks to strengthen his backline as his club faces an added schedule of the Europa League next season. Apart from the Saints, Premier League rivals Swansea City, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Watford are also said to be interested.