The performance of Calum Chambers in the Community Shield match against Manchester City at Wembley on Sunday put the Gunners fans in a catch 22 situation. On one hand, they would have been happy to see their new summer signing put in such an assured performance at the centre of defence; but, more worryingly, it also opened up the possibility of Arsene Wenger not delving into the summer transfer market and bringing in a new central defender as a replacement for Thomas Vermaelen, who signed for Barcelona over the weekend.
Too many times in the recent past, Wenger has been reluctant to replace an outgoing player with another one of similar calibre. While times have certainly changed at Arsenal, with Wenger now armed with plenty of money to spend in the transfer window, that penchant of the Frenchman to keep his money in his pocket is not an easy habit to break.
On Sunday at Wembley, Chambers looked like he was worth every single penny of the £12-16 million spent on him by Wenger to bring him from Southampton, raising doubts over the manager's desire to sign a central defender before the end of August.
"Chambers was outstanding," Wenger said after seeing his side ease past Manchester City 3-0. "He played with a maturity and intelligence that I was really impressed with.
"I saw him there when I bought him and I play him there. For a 19-year-old he had an outstanding performance today. The kind of performance he delivered today is very promising. It's impressive because he hasn't got a long history in this position because he was a right back and I think if all goes well he has a good career in front of him."
Wenger went as far as saying he now sees Chambers as his third centre-back option, with the Englishman capable of even breaking through to the first XI by usurping one of Per Mertesacker or Laurent Koscielny.
"He can challenge both centre backs and that's what you want," Wenger added. "You cannot play with two centre backs the whole season; that means he will play. You saw [Nacho] Monreal who played one or two games at centre-back and he did well."
The Arsenal manager is notoriously stubborn when it comes to buying players he feels are unnecessary, and while Chambers' performance in that central defensive position might have given Wenger another option, he did admit he would look to bring in a new face, but with that all-too familiar caveat -- as long as he finds the right one.
"What it [Chambers' performance against City] does in my head is [it makes me thing] Chambers is among the best three and if I can find another one I will do it," he said. "But to find another one of that quality will not be easy because... Vermaelen left us and had the choice between two massive clubs [Barcelona and Manchester United]. That means these clubs have looked everywhere as well and that means it's not easy to find."
The North London club have been linked with the likes of Daniel Agger, Matija Nastasic and Fabian Schar, but Arsenal legend Ian Wright made his feelings clear on who he wants to see at the Emirates, marshalling the back-four.
"We are going to be close," Wright told BBC 5 Live after Sunday's impressive win. "We do need to sign a couple more players.
"I'd go for [Mats] Hummels and I'm dying for [Raphael] Varane from Real Madrid, that's the calibre of players I'm looking at.
"Yes there are players around, I'm looking for someone to come in and hit the ground running, who knows what it's like to play under pressure, and those are the players I believe Arsenal should be going for."
Arsenal have reportedly made their interest known to Borussia Dortmund over Hummels, according to the Daily Mail, with Wenger ready to go toe-to-toe with Manchester United for the German international's signature.
Hummels will not come cheap, though, with the centre-back rated by Dortmund at around £30 million.
