CALUM CHAMBERS officially signed a new “long-term” deal yesterday to keep the 23-year-old at Arsenal until 2022.

With 24 appearances for the club last season, gifted to him by former boss Arsene Wenger, the young converted right-back will be hoping to impress new Arsenal manager Unai Emery to become a starter in his Arsenal defence.  

“I’m delighted Calum has extended his stay with us. He played an important role last season and will be part of my plans this season,” Emery said.

Before becoming an Arsenal player, Chambers played for Southampton where he had his best season in 2014. He picked up three England caps which caught the eye of the big Premier League club, who picked him up for a cool £16 million.

Chambers spent the 2016/17 season picking up experience on loan at Middlesbrough, but his efforts were not enough to keep the team in the top flight as they dropped down into the Championship.

“I’m really proud, really pleased and excited for this season and what lies ahead,” he said.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. It is a great club and there have been ups and downs, but that is football, that is a career.

“I’ve met some great people here and I’m really excited about the future and I want to kick on and prove to everyone the player I can be.”

On playing for a new manager, he added: “It has obviously been different. It is not something we are used to at the club.

“It is an exciting time. When you see everything announced, we as players were excited and we are all going to push ourselves to do as well as we can this season.

“I just think that the new manager will put his message towards us and tell us how he wants us to play.

“Everyone in the team knows their roles and responsibilities and takes ownership of themselves and the team. Everyone needs to be fully dedicated and put everything into this season.”

The young Englishman, who was made to play right-back occasionally under Wenger, will be fighting for a place centrally against the likes of Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and newly signed Sokratis Papastathopoulos for a spot in the Arsenal back line.