Arsenal and Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has praised young defender Calum Chambers for his maturity since he joined The Gunners in the summer, admitting that he didn't think that the 19-year-old would be as good as he has shown since his impressive debut weekend in the Emirates Cup back during pre-season.
He signed for the club in a £16million pound transfer deal from Southampton and has seen his solid, consistent defensive showings rewarded with a senior England call-up for their Euro 2016 qualifiers. He featured in both their victories against San Marino and Estonia over the past week, with Szczesny giving his thoughts below:
"It is a strange one because I would imagine that to be very successful at 19 you need to be massively confident, maybe overconfident at times. But, Calum isn't - he's very humble, very quiet and he shows his confidence on the pitch. It is a massive quality because he looks very comfortable, whether you play him at right-back or centre back. He is comfortable on the ball, he is comfortable defending and is very strong as well - he has been a massive signing.
The pressure was on him as well because he was 19, he came to a big club and he went straight into the starting XI but he has been coping very well", he told the official website.
Chambers' price tag may have been decieving, given his talent and potential to develop into a world-class defender for many years to come. At only 19, he has many strengths and a few weaknesses to work on of course, but the fact that he is one of the English core and so young shows that Wenger has made a potential masterstroke with the likes of Calum at the club for years to come.