Four years ago I was cleaning Rickie Lambert’s boots, now look at me!
Chambers refuses to get carried away despite whirlwind rise through ranks
IF Calum Chambers was ever inclined to dwell on his rapid ascent in recent months and relax a little, there is a vivid memory which he retains to keep him grounded. Chamber, 20, was a raw Southampton right-back last season, battling with Nathaniel Clyne to stake his claim in the team. In the past six months, he has made his Arsenal debut at centre-half, won the Community Shield, made his England debut and played in the Champions League. It is little surprise he describes his season so far as a ‘whirlwind’ but he is unlikely to get carried away.
Today he is expected to return to the team to take on Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round as Arsenal defend the trophy. Yet only a few years ago he would have been out in the cold cleaning boots as dusk fell at Southampton’s Marchwood training ground.
In those days, Southampton were an aspiring Football League club rather than a much-admired Champions League-chasing outfit and Chambers was fully aware he was near the bottom of the pile.
‘For two years I had to clean Rickie Lambert’s boots,’ he said. ‘It was a good experience. I know some clubs don’t do it but it keeps everyone grounded and as an academy player you know your place. It makes you want to be the player who’s getting his boots cleaned.’
In Lambert, it turns out he had a mentor. ‘He was fantastic to me. He was polite and would speak to me. I wanted to be the person he was.’
Chambers’ loyalty to Lambert hasn’t dimmed. A light-hearted inquiry as to whether Lambert tipped well elicits a mock horrified response. ‘I can’t discuss that,’ says Chambers. ‘That’s confidential between boot boy and player!’
Despite the menial labour, Chambers doesn’t have a hard-luck story to tell. Southampton are recognised as one of the leading producers of football talent in the world, with Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana the best-known graduates of their academy.
And he went to Churcher’s College in Petersfield, Hampshire, an independent school, passing nine GCSEs, although the school’s strength in sport was initially something of a problem. ‘My school specialised in rugby and hockey,’ he said. ‘They didn’t do football, so I played rugby for a bit, hockey for a bit and I enjoyed them. I’d play football on a Saturday. It almost got to the point where the school wanted me to stop playing football on a Saturday to concentrate on school sports. We had to argue the case. We had to say that I had to concentrate on football. It was fine eventually.’
Given the evidence of the last six months, the right choice was made. Chambers is still absorbing his success. He will concede that he was ‘a bit nervous on the first day’ at Arsenal after his £12million move. He was thrust straight into the team in an unfamiliar position at centre- half and performed well in his first game — the 3-0 win over Manchester City in the Community Shield.
Per Mertesacker’s need to recover from the World Cup and the injuries to Mathieu Debuchy and Laurent Koscielny mean he has made 32 appearances in a season in which he was anticipating having to wait for his chance.
‘I set a few goals at the start of the season and I exceeded them massively so I’m really pleased,’ he said. ‘It was a whirlwind few months, it all happened so quickly I didn’t really have the time to sit back and think: “Wow, this is pretty good”. I just got on with it and tried to play as best I could in every game. It was an amazing few months getting my Arsenal debut, Champions League debut, England debut.
‘I knew coming to a club like Arsenal there would be competition for places. I knew that at training every day it was going to be tough and that’s what I wanted. You can’t turn down the opportunity to come to a club like Arsenal. I wanted to rise to that opportunity and prove to everyone what I can do and how good I can be.’ Arsene Wenger is clearly impressed. As well as a potential centre-half, he has him down as a possible holding midfielder. And Chambers is part of a new generation of players – including Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne, John Stones, Ross Barkley, Jordon Ibe, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane – who are being tipped to make waves with the England Under 21s at the Euro 2015 championships in the Czech Republic.
‘I would be happy to be there if I got called up,’ says Chambers, even though he has now made his senior team debut. ‘It would be amazing to go to that and to win it. I think there are a lot of good young English players coming through. There is good hope for the future. Of course, it would put down a big marker (to win it). But even if we didn’t, there’s still a lot of talent coming through.’
His friendship with Clyne is intriguing. The pair were vying to be Southampton’s right-back last year; now it is the England post for which they contend. ‘He’s a really good guy and we have a really healthy relationship. We were always pushing each other in training and games. If I wasn’t playing, he’d be playing and he’d be at the top of his game, and vice versa. When it was your turn to play, you always felt like you had to grab every opportunity and play the best you could.’
For now, though, it is Middlesbrough in the fifth round and the defence of the FA Cup on which to focus which should, in itself, generate a degree of satisfaction.
It certainly beats scrubbing boots on long winter evenings at Marchwood.