Arsene Wenger: Arsenal signing Calum Chambers has tremendous quality

Arsene Wenger has hailed Arsenal signing Calum Chambers as a youngster of “tremendous quality”.

The 19-year-old defender has signed a long-term contract with the north London side after passing a medical to complete his £16m switch from Southampton.

He has a lot of the attributes that we look for in a young player and I am sure that he will do well with us

Arsene Wenger

Wenger has a history of signing promising youngsters from the south coast club after snapping up Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from the Saints.

And the Arsenal manager feels Chambers, who made 18 Premier League starts last season, has qualities which the Frenchman feels fits the profile of the club.

“We are very pleased that Calum has agreed to join us,” Wenger told Arsenal’s website.

“The way he adapted to the Premier League last season with Southampton at a young age shows that he has tremendous quality.

“He has a lot of the attributes that we look for in a young player and I am sure that he will do well with us.”

It is important in the transfer window to remain calm, resilient and above all patient. We have targets, and we are working hard to get them across the line

Les Reed

Meanwhile, Southampton executive director Les Reed defended Chambers’s departure after the sales of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Dejan Lovren already this summer.

“We are naturally disappointed whenever any of our Academy graduates leave the club, and that is very much the case with Calum’s departure.

“Calum made it clear to us that he did not see his future at Southampton. As such, it was crucial that we were able to negotiate a substantial fee that also reflects the work our staff have put into Calum’s development since he joined the club at the age of eight.”

Reed continued: ““Our position remains unchanged in that we are determined to keep our best young players at the club, as is evidenced by the decision to award Harrison Reed a new long-term contract last week, adding to the list of committed young professionals like James Ward Prowse, Sam Gallagher, Jack Stephens, Jordan Turnbull, Matt Targett, Sam McQueen and others who have seen plenty of first-team activity recently.

“We have an abundance of talent in the Academy coming through, and everybody at the club is continuing to work hard on bringing in quality new players as we build a team capable of taking us further forward in the coming seasons.

“It is important in the transfer window to remain calm, resilient and above all patient. We have targets, and we are working hard to get them across the line.”