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Written by Mark Strickland

Charlie Keegan from Wigan Central gave us a positive update on the starts Calvin Ramsay and Luke Chambers have made to the season during our recent Loan Watch show.

Ramsay won the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year award for 2021-22 – his only senior season with Aberdeen.

He signed a five-year contract with Liverpool for £4.2m – a club record sale for Aberdeen.

On November 1, 2022, the Scotsman finally debuted for Liverpool when he replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 87th minute of a 2-0 victory at Anfield against Napoli in the Champions League.

Eight days later, he started his first game for the Reds in the penalty shootout success at home to Derby County after it ended goalless.

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Jurgen Klopp still did not trust the right-back to start the following game – a 3-1 friendly defeat against Lyon in the Dubai Super Cup – with Alexander Arnold not back from the FIFA World Cup.

This was the case on either side of the tournament with Joe Gomez or James Milner instead deputising for the now Liverpool vice-captain when he was unavailable.

In February 2023, surgery on “a back problem” ruled Ramsay out for the rest of the season. Unsuccessful loans followed in 2023-24. He was first loaned to Preston North End but Liverpool recalled him midway through.

The defender then spent the second half of the season at Bolton Wanderers, following in the footsteps of his Liverpool team-mates Conor Bradley and Owen Beck, who had been on loan there the previous season.

Ramsay agreed on a loan move to Wigan Athletic for the 2024-25 season on June 5 – a month before Arne Slot held his first press conference.

He has made six appearances for Wigan – one start and four as a substitute in League One, and a start in the Carabao Cup.

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The 21-year-old is yet to complete 90 minutes and we asked Keegan why Ramsay has played so little football.

He said: “He had a knock and a muscle injury. I think that has been an issue with which he has been dealing.

“His minutes over the last few years are very low, so his full match fitness is not there.

“In his first appearance for Wigan when he came off the bench, he was just desperate to get involved and take shots. I think he was trying to overexert himself to make a statement because Luke Chambers has done.

“He is hopefully starting to build up that fitness.”

Fundamentally, Ramsay is not Wigan’s first-choice right-back.

This is an issue because the purpose of a loan is to get game time unavailable at the parent club.

Keegan said: “I think the only problem, and it is a Liverpool link as well, is James Carragher is starting at right back. He has been excellent.”

Indeed, he has started six of the 10 league games at right-back.

“Calvin Ramsay is having to compete with James Carragher, so you have three Liverpool connections in that team,” said Keegan.

“Ramsay will get more of a chance. When he has been on the ball, he has been very good.

Wigan have recorded seven successive shutouts, taking inspiration from the Liverpool team in 2005 that went 761 minutes in the Premier League without conceding with Jamie Carragher playing centre-back.

“It has not mattered who has been playing in the backline. We can put Ramsay in. He is just as good as Carragher and shores up our defence just as well.

“There is a lot of potential. It is just getting those minutes and building that up now, so hopefully by Christmas, he is at those levels.”

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Academy graduate Luke Chambers travelled with the first team Liverpool squad on their pre-season tour of Asia in 2022 where he started against Manchester United and replaced Andy Robertson in the 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

On January 30, 2023, Chambers joined Kilmarnock on loan until the end of the season.

Two days later, he made his senior debut against Dundee United, assisting the only goal.

On September 27, 2023, the Englishman made his senior Liverpool debut, replacing Kostas Tsimikas in the 90th minute of the 3-1 victory over Leicester City at Anfield.

He made his first start for the Reds in a 5-1 victory at home to Toulouse on October 26. On January 12, the England U20 international joined Wigan on loan until the end of the season.

He scored his first senior league goal with his weaker right foot at newly-crowned champions Portsmouth on April 20.

The left-back replaced Tsimikas in the 64th minute of Slot’s first game in charge – a 1-0 victory over Real Betis – and he made the change a minute later in the 3-0 friendly defeat of Manchester United.

He returned to Wigan on a season-long loan on August 6.

“The preseason with Arne Slot has taken his game to another level. He is starting to see things a lot differently. The way he can play out from the back under pressure, the way he can get down that wing.

“Now it is all about getting to the byline and getting a cross in which is from where his assist came.

Unfortunately, he should have a few assists to his name. We have just really struggled to score goals this season.

“But Luke Chambers is the creator in most of the things we do well.

“We knew what he had done, we knew how good he was last year.

“When we parted ways at the end of last year, I thought I would be watching this guy in the Championship next year because there is no way he is coming back down to League One.

“When it was rumoured, I thought surely not. Surely, he is going to the Championship to a top-six team like Leeds or Sunderland. That is what I had set my mind on because that was his talent.

“To have him back, you just know what you’re getting. He is so consistent. He is one of the best left-backs in the division. What a player he is. He has been excellent.

“I really cannot see a starting lineup that does not include Luke Chambers. He is just that good.

“I would put him up there with Sam Tickle. You put them as your staples and you rotate a few others around. He is just so creative,” Keegan added.

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The 20-year-old has played the eighth most key passes in League One this season.

He has played every minute of the 10 league games, except the second half of the goalless draw at home to Stevenage after being on the end of a heavy challenge.

The 2004-born defender scored a mirror image of Fabio Aurelio’s free-kick – at Chelsea in the 4-4 2009 Champions League quarter-final second leg – in the 4-0 victory at Bristol Rovers and assisted Dale Taylor in the 3-0 home victory over Peterborough.

He was a member of the England 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship-winning squad, replacing Alfie Devine in the second half in the 3-1 final victory over Israel.

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There are routes for both of them into the Liverpool first team. With Alexander-Arnold’s future uncertain, Ramsay could become the understudy to Bradley and Chambers could supplant Tsimikas in the established order.