It is hard to envisage a more chastening start to the season than the one Calum Chambers has been subjected to. Conceding four goals in one match, losing your place to a kid with one season at Bolton Wanderers on his CV and then, according to reports, being made available for loan. All in the space of a pretty miserable 11 days.
If it seems premature, at the age of just 21, to say that Chambers is already at a crossroads in his Arsenal career, at the very least there is a fork in the road looming on the horizon. At a time when Arsene Wenger is scrambling around for a new centre-back with increasing desperation, it is not encouraging for Chambers that he is still viewed as dispensable.
Wenger has only three fit centre-backs at his disposal and with the latest signals from Valencia being rather less than encouraging over the interest in Shkodran Mustafi -- he is "not for sale and will stay" according to head coach Pako Ayestaran -- that situation does not appear to be changing any time soon.
Chambers would seem like a useful body to have in such circumstances so it is revealing, if indeed it is true, that a loan move could be on the table. He certainly has the ability to play regularly in the Premier League, though perhaps, from what we have seen from him so far, not at Arsenal.
It is now two seasons in a row that Chambers has been exposed in his first appearance of the season against Liverpool. In August 2015, he looked well out of his depth with an erratic performance alongside Gabriel Paulista in a match which somehow ended 0-0; on Aug. 14 this year, he was given a torrid afternoon by Jurgen Klopp's side as they tore Arsenal to shreds with four goals in the space of 17 minutes.
With this season already echoing last, it is abundantly clear that Chambers' career at Arsenal has stalled. It may even have gone backwards.
Rob Holding has only been at the club for a month so it was a huge surprise to see the summer signing given a starting role ahead of Chambers against Leicester City at the weekend, but he repaid Wenger's faith with an assured performance alongside Laurent Koscielny in a 0-0 draw against the reigning champions. Holding looked alert to danger and improved markedly on his Liverpool display.
Suddenly, watching from the sidelines at the King Power Stadium, Chambers will have come to the realisation that he is now Wenger's fifth-choice centre-back -- not a status which is likely to result in much playing time. With Gabriel back in around four-to-six weeks, a temporary move away from the club looks to be a good solution.
Chambers is not noticeably improving as a player. You could argue he has never really recovered from the going over Swansea winger Jefferson Montero gave him in November 2014. Chambers' lack of pace was exposed on that day, not something that is liable to change, but his confidence does not appear to have entirely come back and there is little evidence of development in other areas either. Perhaps working with a manager with better defensive pedigree than Wenger will be a necessary step in his development.
If he does leave on loan it will leave Chambers, signed from Southampton two years ago for £16 million, with an uncertain future. For every Hector Bellerin, who used a loan spell at Watford as a springboard to the first team, or Jack Wilshere, who did likewise at Bolton, there are five Henri Lansburys or Jay Simpsons. It is even rarer for a player to become established in the first team after a big-money move and then go out on loan. Mathieu Debuchy is a recent exception, but last season's loan at Bordeaux hasn't done him much good and he could still leave before the end of the transfer window.
It is all too tempting to see a potential loan move for Chambers as the prelude to his eventual departure from the club, but we are not there quite yet. He still has time to convince Wenger of his value to Arsenal and may even be best placed to do so away from the Emirates. In truth, though, the signs right now are ominous.