Season Preview 2021-22: Fullback

Previously: Goalkeeper.

While left back has been a revolving door since Nacho Monreal left the club two years ago, Hector Bellerin has held the right back spot down, apart from a year out with an ACL injury, since January 2015.

Now, with Bellerin set to leave the club (Please, God!) and Kieran Tierney signing a new long term contract, the Gunners look set on the left, and a bit underwhelming on the right.

Left Back	Age	Contract	Right Back	Age	Contract
Kieran Tierney	24	June 2026	Calum Chambers	26	June 2022
Nuno Tavares	21	June 2025	Cédric Soares	30	June 2024

Right Back: Calum Chambers?

Rating: 4/10

Your guess is as good as mine. The season starts Friday, and there hasn’t been a credible right back link in months. Smoke around the team has Mikel Arteta happy with what he has.

That probably means 2,000+ minutes for Calum Chambers. Signed as a center back for €20 million, back when 25 got you Toni Kroos, Chambers has made 116 appearances in his seven years at the club. Since Arteta’s arrival, most of them have been at right back.

That’s likely because he’s comfortable on the ball. Remember, he spent 2018-19 playing in midfield for Fulham en route to being named their player of the season.

Despite featuring only 20 times under Arteta, the manager might actually rate him. Chambers was only available for a fraction of Arsenal matches, missing more than a year with a cruciate ligament injury. He started Arteta’s second game in charge back in December 2019—against Chelsea no less—before the torn ACL cut his season short.

But we’re still mostly guessing. Chambers made only 10 Premier League appearances last season, and for a manager whose future might hinge on finishing in the top-four, handing him the right back reigns would be a tremendous risk.

Here’s to hoping Arsenal have a surprise in the transfer market at the position.

Reserves:

Rating: 3/10

So would giving them to Cedric Soares. Soares famously signed a four year contract, taking him to age 32, prior to kicking a ball at Arsenal. Fan sentiment has been lukewarm ever since.

Lukewarm is about how he’s played for Arsenal. The peak of his Arsenal career probably came four minutes into his debut:

Soares was bought (and extended) at a time when it looked like Maitland-Niles was leaving the club, and now that AMN is no longer in the right back room Soares will have an opportunity to show what makes him a “different quality in the fullback area than what we have,” according to Arteta.

He’s a gifted, technical player and is probably the best we have in the final third to make the right decision and attack the box as well. He can play in a four or a five, he’s a really good player with experience in the Premier League that can help us.

Still, after Maitland-Niles’s loan to West Brom, Soares made just 10 appearances in all competitions, and seven of them were at LEFT back.

football.london claim Soares “has impressed Arsenal coaches with his pre-season form and is contention to start the opening game of the season.” Without a quote from anyone important, that information is probably coming from his agent. Soares’s pre-season performances have been a fair ways from “impressive.”

There are half-credible reports linking him to Turkey. Based on his contract, we’d be surprised if he went anywhere.

Lastly, The Guardian reported two weeks ago that the club hadn’t ruled out offering Hector Bellerin a new contract. All bets are off if he signs it, even though he’s been a shell of himself for 18 months.

Left Back: Kieran Tierney

Rating: 8/10

One of three nailed-on starters at the Emirates, Kieran Tierney is this website’s pre-season pick for player of the season.

Tierney is the definition of a modern fullback: Technically sound with the workrate of a man with three lungs. For a club that’s given Sead Kolasinac 113 appearances, Tierney’s ability to hit a pass is a welcomed sight.

He’s also got a goal or two in him, and not just in a 4-0. There’s an argument that Tierney directly contributed to Arsenal’s two most important goals of the season:

Despite joining the club just two seasons ago (and being just 24 years old), he’s set to join the club’s official leadership group this season regardless of Granit Xhaka and/or Bellerin leaving. He’s been an unofficial member since arriving from Celtic.

Since coming to Arsenal, his flexibility has allowed Arteta to interchange between a back three (where he operated as the left CB) and back four (where he played as a traditional left back). Oftentimes, in the same game.

Only teammates’ poor finishing kept him off the Premier League assists leaders list last season.

He cut his Holiday short following Scotland’s Euro 2020 to return for pre-season. He’s everything you’d want out of an Arsenal player, and if he can stay healthy should start 35+ PL games this season.

Reserves

Rating: 4/10

Without European football, there aren’t likely to be many minutes available behind Kieran Tierney this season. Those that are will be snapped up by new signing Nuno Tavares.

Tavares’ signing hopefully represents a shift in Arsenal transfer strategy: Less Willian, and more 21 – 24 year-olds with potential to grow into Premier League stars. With Tierney ahead of Tavares, the Gunners won’t need him to be one right away. If he can take the ~500 Premier League minutes Xhaka played at left back last season and do this:

…it’ll be a win.

We’ve only seen him in a handful of friendlies, and in each of them Arsenal have been on the front foot. We don’t know if he can defend. We don’t know if he can play vs. a press. Regardless, he’ll be an improvement on the ghost that was Arsenal’s backup left back last season.