Arsenal deal for Shkodran Mustafi set to trigger Calum Chambers exit

Calum Chambers looks set to leave Arsenal on loan before next week's summer transfer deadline. The 21-year-old defender, who joined the Gunners from Southampton in 2014 for a fee of £16m ($21m), has yet to realise his potential at the Emirates Stadium but started alongside new signing Rob Holding during a 4-3 home defeat by Liverpool on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season following injuries to Per Mertesacker and Gabriel.

Chambers even notched a header in that seven-goal thriller to give Arsenal late hope of claiming an unlikely point, but dropped to the substitutes' bench for the subsequent goalless draw against champions Leicester City, with Laurent Koscielny deemed fit enough to start after his exertions at Euro 2016.

Despite young Holding impressing since his low-key transfer from Bolton Wanderers, Arsene Wenger has pursued the signing of another centre-back and it appears that key target Shkodran Mustafi will finally complete his proposed £35m switch from Valencia imminently. Alongside Deportivo forward Lucas Perez, the German international was, according to the BBC, scheduled to undergo a medical on Friday (26 August) before putting pen to paper on a five-year contract.

When questioned at a press conference held before tomorrow's trip to Watford if the addition of Mustafi would affect Chambers' future, the manager was quoted as saying by Arsenal's official website: "Future? No. The fact that he could go out somewhere and play? Yes."

Chambers would be the third Arsenal player to be loaned out over recent days with Joel Campbell dispatched for yet another temporary stint abroad with Sporting Lisbon and new striker Takuma Asano signing for Stuttgart after failing to secure a work permit in the aftermath of his July move from J-League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

"With Joel Campbell going out, Calum Chambers maybe will go on loan somewhere," Wenger replied to a query regarding any more potential exits. "It will be alright."

Campbell's switch to Portugal is his fifth loan move since 2011, following on from stints with Lorient, Real Betis, Olympiacos and Villarreal. The forward recently told Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion that he made the decision to leave in order to play more regular first-team football despite Wenger's preference for him to stay put.

Explaining that move at his presser, Wenger confirmed that Campbell might still have a future at Arsenal. He said: "I believe that he's a bit of a victim of the size of the squad. He is now at an age where he needs to play more regularly and I don't rule out that he comes back here and plays. He has gone to Sporting Lisbon and I think it's an interesting championship. Portugal always has an interesting championship and let's see how it goes for him."