Aston Villa centre-back Calum Chambers has now been told he can depart the club on deadline day.
The pieces of Unai Emery’s transfer puzzle are beginning to bind together.
It took a while for Villa to become busy in this transfer window, but deadline day will see Middlesbrough’s Morgan Rogers arrive while goalkeeper Joe Gauci and left-back Lino Sousa are also close to being confirmed.
With several incomings close to being announced, Emery is also looking to shift a few of his less important players off the wage bill.
Leander Dendoncker, who joined Napoli on loan last week, has paved the way for others to jump ship.
Bertrand Traore has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia previously and has now been told he can leave on deadline day while centre-back Calum Chambers has joined that party.
Calum Chambers could leave Aston Villa on deadline day
It emerged earlier on in the window that Emery was open to letting a few of his fringe players depart but given the little amount of business done across the board, offloading players has proven to be a struggle.
Deadline day, however, always brings about panic and chaos as clubs scamper to do last-minute deals.
As a result, Chambers is expected to leave Villa before the deadline, according to the Athletic, as several Championship clubs are said to be strongly interested.
The 29-year-old is yet to play in the Premier League this season and was reliably informed that he could depart at the beginning of the window.
With the former Arsenal man open to a loan move to the second tier, those sides battling for promotion, including Leeds United and Southampton, could pounce at the chance to sign him.
Chambers has to move on
Chambers has only featured for 88 minutes across two appearances in the Europa Conference League this term and has fallen victim to Villa’s meteoric rise.
Since Emery serviced his defence with added quality, the Englishman has become a fifth-choice defender with the likes of Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Clement Lenglet and Diego Carlos all above him in the pecking order.
Despite rarely earning a chance to feature for Villa as they battle for the top four, Chambers can still do a job at lower half Premier League side, so for a Championship team to pick him up would be immense business.
For the best of his career and his parent club, it’s best if his £50k-a-week wages are shifted on sooner rather than later.
