Luke Chambers – Welcome to Wigan Athletic

Despite the restrictions we’re working within you just cannot keep Wigan Athletic out of the transfer market!

We have started our January business with the addition of Liverpool’s highly-rated left-sided defender Luke Chambers, who will spend the rest of the season on loan at the DW Stadium.

The 19-year-old has made four first team appearances for the Reds this season, three of which have come in the UEFA Europa League, which suggests he’s highly thought of in Merseyside.

He comes into a squad with strong competition at full-back, particularly on that left hand side, so lets see what he has to offer…

What does he bring to the side?

First things first, and no this isn’t entirely to make my job easier, here is Chambers giving a description of his attributes to the Liverpool website after his debut back in October 2023:

“I think I’m more of a stay-on-my-feet defender,” Chambers says. “I don’t really rush in to a lot of stuff, I’m more careful about my positioning. That’s why I intercept quite a lot of passes and I’m on the front foot and read the play well.

“When you watch Virg [van Dijk] defending, he’s so elegant and he reads the game very well. I think they’re the best kind of defenders in this day and age. That’s what I base my game off – just composure while defending.

“Looking at my versatility now, it really helps me in the game. Having those positions, I just think it opens a lot more doors.”

Luke Chambers – Liverpool FC website

That ‘front-footed defender’ immediately stands out as something we’re in need of adding to our side. Tom Pearce could be considered that but he’s had his injury problems and isn’t particularly solid defensively, albeit there has been progress in that side of his game.

Chambers spent the second half of last season on loan at Kilmarnock where he played over 1100 minutes of football for their first team in the Scottish Premiership, the majority of which came on the left of defence.

He registered an assist on debut for Killie with an incisive pass following a driving run inside from the left-back position. As expected he likes getting forward and will provide us with more pace in wide areas, which lends itself to our transitional play.

There’s not much physicality about his game which I assume is part of the thought process behind Liverpool loaning him here. I expect him to be a level above technically but the challenge, as we saw with fellow Liverpool loanee James Balagizi, is whether he can combine that with the physical and mental side of the game.

Positionally in the senior games he played there have been very few issues and again that helps make up for the lack of dominance in physical duels. He ranked highly for recoveries (6.23 per 90) and tackles (1.52 per 90) in the SPL last term which should correlate nicely to League One given the similar quality in league.

I suppose the biggest question mark I have, and based on social media reaction lots of Tics’ agree, is what he brings that Luke Robinson, Tom Pearce and Steven Sessegnon don’t.

Firstly I think it makes sense to move ‘Sess’ back over to the right and have him competing and rotating with Sean Clare on that side. He’s done well on the left when called upon and does suit being the inverted full-back, but playing a left-footer on the left means we can return to the system that we used so well back in August.

Luke Robinson is more of a defensive option, arguably more likely to play at left-centre-back rather than as a full-back or wing-back. It’s a bit of a confusing situation to be honest and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he was sent back on loan to St Johnstone. He adds good depth but so do several other players.

Tom Pearce is the first choice left-back when everyone is fit and therefore he’s the most ‘under threat’ and they have similar skillsets. Chambers averaged more than one chance created per game in Scotland so should hopefully add that extra creativity, which we desperately need.

To sum him up as best I can, Chambers is a modern-day full-back with a willingness to get on the ball, create chances while still putting in a shift defensively. He’s a good player who should add strength to our squad.

Where might he play?

As I’ve touched on already he’s spent the last few years working on his game as a full-back, but it’s worth noting Chambers is a versatile footballer. He can operate in the centre of midfield, anywhere down the left wing and also as a left centre-back in a back three if absolutely necessary.

I’d like to think that’s a big part of why we’ve brought him in, and if we start to see him used in centre midfield I’ll be rather excited. A left-footed option in there is a key missing profile for us so don’t be surprised if we see him operate there. Again I think he’s got the technical game for it but whether he’d last physically remains to be seen.

Importantly he’ll offer depth at LB or LWB, freeing up the likes of Steven Sessegnon and Jordan Jones to play in their more natural positions. It’s just a case of bulking up our squad ahead of the second half of the season to ensure we don’t have as many injury problems as we have done already.

Final Thoughts

I think this will prove to be quite a smart signing for Latics all things considered. We can’t really rely on Tom Pearce and Jordan Jones for the rest of the season at LWB, stylistically we can’t leave Luke Robinson as our only fit LB and to have a player able to offer midfield depth as well as support to our LBs is nice.

Liverpool won’t have loaned him here without some sort of assurance over game time, especially given the situation with James Balagizi earlier on in the campaign. And I think he’ll get it for sure, he arrives with more pedigree than most youngsters of his age, in a position that is heavily rotated in our side and has a skillset that will definitely ne of use to us.

It’ll now be interesting to see what more business we do this month, but this is a very solid start.

Welcome to Wigan Athletic, Luke Chambers.