A defender once tracked by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United will be turning out on loan at Harrow Borough for the next month, after Dave Anderson pulled off another coup this week.
Michael Chambers was thrust into the limelight in January 2012 when Crystal Palace paid almost £100,000 to take him to Selhurst Park from Dulwich Hamlet, beating a host of clubs, including the Red Devils and Liverpool, to his signature.
Chambers is one of a long line of Dulwich Hamlet starlets to make the move to a top-flight club, with the likes of Peter Crouch, Ian Wright, Marlon King and West Ham’s Paul McCallum all having trodden a similar path to the latest Earlsmead recruit.
The teenage centre-half’s dream move to Palace soon became an injury nightmare though as Chambers suffered with excruciating shin splints for almost a year before making his long-awaited comeback with the club’s U21s this summer.
Anderson has been trusted by the Premier League outfit to help their young talent, who was previously at Reading, regain match fitness in the rough and tumble of the Ryman Premier Division. He made his debut in Boro’s superb 4-2 win at Hornchurch on Tuesday as Stephen Butterworth, Victor Osobu, Danny Leech and fit-again Simeon Akinola all got on the scoresheet.
“Michael is a big centre-half, well over six-foot, and Palace paid a bit of money for him,” Anderson said.
“He’s had an injury and is coming back from that so they are keen for him to get out and get games.
“I’ve got a good relationship with Palace and their youth team manager used to play for me. It’s a real plus for us to get someone of Michael’s ilk and to be trusted with him. He’s in for a month and we’ll assess the situation again after month.
“I don’t really remember us playing against him when he was at Dulwich, but I’m sure he must have done and I certainly remember a lot of people talking about him as being a good player at the time. I knew about him at the time and how sought after at the time. We’ll help him get back to match fitness.
“He will be a great asset to us for the next four weeks and we’ll see what happens after that. He trained with us last week but realistically he’ll only play with us. I’m more than happy with that.
“We’ve got the same situation with James Shea, who trains at Arsenal, and we can’t give them better training than those clubs will!”
Also arriving this week is James Fray, an exciting midfield prospect from Cray Wanderers who Harrow chief Anderson also has high hopes for.
“I remember playing against him last year,” Anderson added. “He’s a young, quick player with lots of quality.
“He will be in and around the squad and will be looking to get into the team because I’ve released a few players. He’s got a great attitude and this is a good chance for him.”
Meanwhile, Borough’s tenants Hendon were 4-1 winners over Met Police on Saturday thanks to a brace from Jefferson Louis and one apiece for Carl McCluskey and Jack Bennett.
