Unai Emery is ready to show the door to Calum Chambers for a second time as his Aston Villa overhaul ramps up.
Villa’s Spanish coach loaned Chambers to Fulham for the season in 2018/19 after taking charge at Arsenal. Now Chambers’ future is again in doubt after Emery took over at Villa last October. Versatile defender Chambers, 28, signed by Steven Gerrard just a year ago, has only made three appearances since Emery became boss.
He joins Morgan Sanson, Marvelous Nakamba, Ludwig Augustinsson and Jan Bednarek as surplus to requirements at Villa Park where Danny Ings was sold this week.
Emery, who has already signed striker Jhon Duran and left-back Alex Moreno, also wants Lyon striker Moussa Dembele and Marseille midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.
Meanwhile, Duran must be given time to make his mark in the Premier League, according to boss Unai Emery. The Colombia international is joining Villa for around £18million from Chicago Fire.
The club have also agreed to sell Danny Ings to West Ham for £15million with Emery revamping his forward line. He insisted Duran is not expected to replace Ings - with Villa also after another striker - and patience is required with the 19-year-old.
"He has potential as a striker if he can develop like we are thinking he will do," said Emery, ahead of Saturday's trip to Southampton. "We can't give him the responsibility, as a 19-year-old, to play as a striker in the Premier League against the best teams in the world.
"I want to help him firstly with his adaptation; hopefully that will happen quickly. I know that he's coming as a 19-year-old and he will need time to know his team-mates, our ideas, and playing against important players in every session here and against opposition teams.
"We are going to help him. The responsibility now, as a number nine and a striker, is for (Ollie) Watkins. We want to add him (Duran) to help us. I want to balance the squad by trying to get another striker but only with the idea to improve us."
