Chelsea are claimed to be closing on the capture of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but why would Arsenal allow it?
The versatile star joined the club from Southampton in 2011 after impressing as a young advanced midfielder, and has been a squad member at the Emirates ever since.
The Ox enjoyed his best year of football during the previous campaign, despite being used in a number of different roles, and has spent much of 2017 playing as a wing-back in our new 3-4-2-1 formation.
The 23 year-old is now claimed to be a target for Premier League champions Chelsea, who are said to have offered him a first-team role at right wing-back, with a £35 Million deal mooted.
Antonio Conte stated that his club were working hard to bring in more numbers after their disastrous 3-2 opening match defeat to Burnley on Saturday, and a versatile player like the Ox who could cover three of their less-strong positions would be a huge boost for them.
Arsene Wenger has shown loyalty to those who he has helped to develop over the years, but is believed to be looking to trim down his squad at present.
The Ox should be looking to play a relatively key role in our side this season, continuing on from where he left off last term, but his contract has been allowed to run into it’s final 12 months, and we can’t allow ourselves to lose a large number of players for free in 12 months time.
We currently have Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Kieran Gibbs and Joel Campbell also with contracts expiring next summer, and none appear close to extending at present.
Would Wenger allow the Ox to leave? Could we persuade him to sign a new deal?
Pat J
Its rediculous if he is allowed to leave. Playing the best he ever has and whilst in last year of contract and aparantly wants out due to lack of regular games should be persuaded to stay. Yet again we will strengthen the opposition! On a brighter note, good to see Jack back in a 3-2 win for the Arse.
I believe Wenger should play OX ahead of Bellerin at RWB cos he’s better and more suitable to the role and stop playing players out of position. But if he insists on leaving he should be sold and Nelson promoted, am tired of his tantrums just because he had one good season he wants to hold the club to ransom. Sell him for 50million cos Chelsea are desperate to reinforce their team.
I totally agree. Bellerin is the better RB but Ox is the better RWB. Ox is wasted on the left.
Despite what Kev and his (Re)sources say, I don’t think he will move to Chelsea in a world cup year. He has been an England favourite for a while for his versatility which came from AW playing him in multiple positions. He needs minutes regardless of position this season and a good run out in Europe will improve his chances. Going to Chelsea hoping for an injury to Moses or to be rotated during the group stages is not enough minutes.
Add the fact that he wants to play CM, and the Chelsea links just stink. Liverpool is his preferred destination. Can is in a similar position with less than 12 months left on his contract. Klopp rotates between Can and Wijnaldum, with the latter getting more minutes alongside club captain Henderson last season. If Can goes on a free to Juventus in a year, then the Ox would expect the CM role he covets. The spanner in the works is Liverpool’s pursuit of Naby Keita.
The bottom line however is that we have nurtured him for 6 years (It’s his birthday today!) and unlike Sanchez it will be financial suicide to lose a player with many years of potential ahead of him on a free next summer. Unlike Sanchez, he doesn’t waltz into our first 11 (although I think he should start as RWB ahead of Bellerin). As an English player, there is also a premium. Like Barkley at Everton, if he wont sign an extension he should be sold- with a sell on/buy back clause.
I agree we hold onto him but if there is any truth in the reports that he is asking for 150K/week – no way we should be giving in – his contributions are nowhere close to that level. 90-100K at max.
This is my take on the issue. I believe his agent is probably trying to get a bumper deal for him by putting out these rumours, first it was Liverpool and now Chelsea. But I wouldn’t be too complacent either because he is a crucial first team player for us and loosing him would be a big loss. For me he is right now above Walcott and Bellerin on the right. What baffles me is how low his weekly wage is compared to Bellerin and Walcott, right now Walcott is earning 140k/p, Bellerin is on 100k/p and Ox is only on 65k/p, a massive difference. By giving out huge salary to average players has put us in this predicament in the first place because now every average player now wants a pay rise and our wage cap is so high that it has become unsustainable, meaning we can’t pay the right wages to the right players. We should never have allowed Walcott sign such a huge pay rise but instead should have sold him for good profit and reinvested. Bellerin on the other hand would become another potential problem at a later stage because he is already on 100k/w and he is also still only just 22 of age, but at least the positive in this is that not many clubs would easily come to pry him away from us when they consider the wage he is on. This last point should also be applied to the Ox but since he is only on 65k/p it is not unrealistic to fathom and expect clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea coming in to try and persuade him to sign for them, promising him more playing time as well as giving him his defined role. What we need to do from this is to reflect on our wage bill structure because if we don’t then more problems like these will occur/ Also we really have to resolve player contracts much earlier than leave it to the last year, haven’t we learned from this in the past already? I am very disappointed in the way this club manages things. Finally with regards to Chamberlain I feel Wenger under appreciates and undervalue his real potential and ability, whilst overrate certain players like Walcott; Bellerin and Ramsey, and this is reflected in the disparity in their wages. Wenger needs to appreciate his ability more by giving him a defined role and playing him in his right position instead of creating doubt in his mind. I believe Chamberlain out of all the British core is perhaps the more deserving person to instil faith in and given the freedom and opportunity to shine because he really has massive potential, he also brings the x-factor to the game which is his dribbling and ability to take on players coupled with his physicality and pace. At the end of the day if he chooses to leave and we end up getting good money then I can’t see anyway that can persuade him to stay, but I expect Wenger to what ever he can to keep him at Arsenal.
JUST IN:As I brought to you yesterday that Arsenal and Chelsea were close to agreeing a £37.5 deal for Oxlade Chamberlain I can confirm that the deal is now done.Arsenal and Chelsea have agreed a £37.5 deal for him.It’s now up to the Ox to accept or reject them.
Juventus also have an interest in Wilshere but are not willing to meet £20 asking price due to injury record.
Just when one things we finally have the pieces coming together for us to have a really good season, Wenger goes and does things like this. I hope your source is wrong mate. The Wilshere one hurts me, but he is just unreliable, but if him leaving would mean we get Seri than he can go, but i’d still keep him cause IF he was to remain injury free surely he’d offer more than Ozil. Atleast he’ll not dissapear on us, he’d probably rather get injured than go missing in a game lol.
Ox might just reject them.However, I feel deep down that he doesn’t want to stay.The deal is agreed between the two clubs but it’s left for the Ox to accept or reject.
Barcelona also hae Ox on their list as an alternative to Coutinho.
Sell to Barca rather and insert a buy-back clause..
Sorry wrong info.It’s Liverpool who are rather considering a move for Ox in the event Coutinho leaves .
Stop quoting Transferman on Twitter, he’s a known fraud
It would be a disaster to sell Ox to Chelsea who would probably play him in his best position as a right wing-back.
The problem is Wenger doesn’t play him in his best position so we don’t get the best out of him.
Would anyone be surprised if Ox goes to Chelsea and plays the lights out? He could quite possibly be the best right wingback in the PL particularly if someone works with him on his defending.
We should not sell the Ox particularly to the PL champs and we should start playing him as a right wing-back. Let’s stop playing players out of position.
You have nailed it. Our whole midfield could be so much better, if they were taught how to defend and required to do so (Mourinho style). But as it is, many of our midfield players as individuals don’t cut it defensively, and as a team, we are leaking too many goals year in and year out.
we shouldn’t let him go. i don’t get it, he claims it’s about money but game time and wanting to play in midfield, but he won’t get more game time at chelsea and conte will use him as a WB just like wenger.
not about money…
Oh yes, it’s just as much as it is about money as playing time. Walcott is getting paid 140K per week whilst Chamberlain is only getting 65K per week, which should say a lot of things…
Because he is a naughty boy, he doesn’t want to sign. So the big daddy will let him rot on daddy’s ex wife’s bench. Happy jerking there, my youngin’.
This is a difficult situation for the club, ox wants regular football, forget about playing through the middle, but wenger can’t bench bellerin, I was low-key wishing we sold bellerin, cos his form dropped, we can’t sell ox now, he just turned 24, and he’s a better crosser than bellerin, that’s why wenger moved him to rwb, when giroud came on..
Ox is the best wing back in our club. Bellerin doesn’t cut it for me.
Look as you state we have players all in the last 9 months of their contract. Only 2 of them are guaranteed starters. Yet people would rather keep the ox (who has mainly been a flop until April) over Ramsey.
The fact is the club has clearly balled up by allowing so many players to be coming out of contract at the same time. But there is actually a lot more players coming out of contract in May than you have mentioned. Mertesacker will also be in that position and I am certain that Cech and ospina will be coming put of contract at the same time. Fact is if you have a squad of proFessionals like we do of around 75 and most are on 5 year deals the best you can hope for is too negotiate around 15 contracts per year. If half of those want to run down their contract to make tull use of the bosman ruling then you have to be really stupid not to cash in on one or two players.
Personally I dont zee the ox as any better than azilpuceta and only a slight upgrade on moses. He is definitely not better than kante Fabregas bakayoko pedro Willian or hazard. So quite where he sees himself as a guaranteed starter is a tad optimistic.If this summers showing is anything to go by we have a far superior player on our books in reiss Nelson anyway. I also think given the chances in their best positions iwobi Adelaide willock mcguane nketiah mavididi Niles and da Silva will prove their worth.
If we are to sell players yes we would all prefer it to be abroad, but let’s face it, in 9 months we could see ox go to Chelsea for free, alexis join city for free, ozil join someone for free along with Wiltshire, gibbs, etc etc. There is approximately £200m waiting to walk away for nothing. I would much rather we sign lemar van dijk seri and carvalho to 5/6 contracts now for that money
Cech
Mustafi van Dijk Koscielny
Bellerin carvalho xhaka kolasinac
Ĺemar seri
Lacazette
Wrong. The Ox has not been a flop until April if you have been following Arsenal closely enough. He actually has been making huge strides in the last two years. The only reason he hasn’t had more time is because of injuries and the fact that Wenger has not been playing him enough and when he has he plays him in various positions to experiment with him. But given the opportunity afforded to him, he has shown to shine in each and every position he plays, and if you spotted the small changes in the areas he used to lack, then you can tell the guy is actually trying to improve himself.
Also selling players to reinvest is good business but there will always be uncertainty that new players coming in won’t be able to adapt to the team or perhaps even become a total flop. If you are not able to keep your best players and keep selling them, then you will be judged as a selling club and again put under the microscope. If we are to shake off that reputation then we have to act in a way of a big club instead of selling our best players. Lastly it is very easy to name players we want to buy nowadays, without actually understanding and seeing the players in action, because the internet and the media has allowed us access to information that we weren’t able to have before, and also with social media becoming a way to have news going viral, we easily find ourselves caught in the hype. It is important to analyse and see how it fits into the system we have and the overall performance dynamics than just naming people and seeing a few vids on YouTube. Van Dijk; Carvalho; Lemar; Seri are all names that have popped up in the rumour mill and if they weren’t I would hardly think many of us would even know of these players. Some of them are quality but some of them are hyped, not all of them would fit into our play our satisfy our quality. There have been many players that was linked to us in the past who have now flopped big at other club, this just shows we cannot just look and accept what is given to us without being critical and objective. Plus we may not get all the players so we can’t go about selling players.
Bellerin should have sold to Barcelona weeks ago and his position given to Oxelaide Chamberlain who does a far better job. The exit of Bellerin could have served as a warning to those on the Arsenal players that if you don’t perform well you will be cut loose . It could have galvanised this team to perform at a higher level than they currently are . Sad to say The Ox will probably sign for Chequesea. It baffles me how Wenger continually ruins a players career and confidence by playing them out of position. He tries to make them something they are not and when his experiment fails he washes his hands off the player all together
Ox wants to play in central NOT wing back. that’s the problem.
True, I understand that but he needs to realise that he has poured, aged his best football as RWB . why chase after a position that is saturated instead of opting for one where he has a niche
That’s not the only problem, he wants first team action, apparently conte promised him the rwb position if he joins..
I for one can take Sanchez leaving. But as for the Ox, that would really hurt. He finally seems to be coming into his own, i feel if we let Sanchez leave, which looks more likely, it can give way for kids like Nelson and Sancho (if we do get him) to come into the team and fight for that position. I didn’t get to watch the youth team play last night but from what i gathered that is where Nelson seemed to operate from. And i also feel we need someone young in the team that has that youthful confidence of just taking people on in the same way Rashford does. Sanchez offers that but clearly he doesn’t wanna be with us anymore, might as well play someone who will be around for the long run.
Can someone please enlighten me though, whats the whole issue with the OX, is it that he wants to play central mid or is it a thing of wages, because if its playing central mid, than he def wont get that at Chelsea. If its wages than we should just pay him, there is just no way guys like Walcott or Wilshere for that matter should be getting more than the Ox.
I don’t think it’s about playing in the middle. I think it’s about playing in one position and playing all the time. His best position is RWB yet Wenger seems scared to drop Bellerin and make the OX permanent on the right. Jeez my patience is wearing thin with they way Wenger IMO has totally Fuc##ed up the contracts of a lot of our players. I wish we could just talk about who we’re playing next. Roll on the 1/9.
COYG
Ox is still making those amazing solo runs but with no end result, he needs to be more of a team player or beter finisher or at least hit the target
Yeah, Ox is inconsistent. He’s a good player for mid table teams but not consistent enough for top 4. Ox is intelligent enough to know that he’ll be discarded and treated with little respect at Chelsea. Oxlade’s inconsistencies are down to a poor pass at the end of a great run and regularly switching off/losing focus tracking players and defending.
Ironically, while i think his career will be treated by Chelsea (mainly due to regular managerial changes/uncertainties and brutal decision making by the manager in charge) i do feel Chelsea will make him a better, more disciplined player and are best to iron out these inconsistencies.
Also, I bet Perry would like the prestige of having a boyfriend at Chelsea!
These players don’t want to play for Wenger again and the earlier the club hierarchy knew this, the better…If at the end of this season, we are unable to win a major trophy and renew the contract of every important player without stress, then Wenger just has to leave! Wenger cannot be greater than Arsenal, can he?
I got the same feeling that these contract rebels have had enough with Arsenal. The loyal fans can wait forever, but the players have to think about their careers and money.
seems to reflect the general mess that the club is now in … rent seeking owner disinterested in the game, delusional manager who continues to believe the game is played in his own head rather than against other teams who are strengthening, too many players in some positions too few in others, inflated wage bill due to hanging on to deadwood players, injury prone before season starts, lack of footballing identity … wexit a necessary but probably not sufficient condition for club to regain its status
Arsene Wenger will surely sell the OX to Chelsea, painful though it is. But that is what Wenger is good at, selling players and strengthening our rivals for money. He has bought just one player in Lacazette, as Kolasinic is a free transfer, and is already complaining of having too many players to manage. Later he will sell Sanchez, Wilshere, Gibbs and even Ozil and maybe buy one unknown. Nothing has changed at Arsenal. It is still the same old story .I hope I am proved wrong.
I can’t believe all this ox hype? If any of you have actually been going you will see he has coincidentally raised his game approaching the contract discussions and final year of his contract. As for being the best wing back? Well I will put kolasinac as the best, whilst bellerin and monreal are every bit as good plus Niles and Nelson look far better prospects. Just sell him and with the money pay the release clause for seri. Sell alexis to psg and with the money get lemar, sell ozil to barca and with the money get van dijk. Then sell perez and Wilshire and with the money sign carvalho. Finally with the sale of some further sundries like gibbs, jenkinson, Debuchy, campbell and Gabriel we could probably afford sidibe as well. That means First team strengthened in all the right areas, wage bill slashed and squad numbers aligned.
Wenger os never going to sign 4 or 5 first team players in one window as he believes it upsets the team.. however I would have thought this was the ideal wi dow to do exaxtly that and sweep out players who are not good enough rake in around 100 to 150mn if you include eg walcott wilshere etc and buy a new spine… Cech is looki g shaky and Kos getting injured aand no high quality midfielder as Santi is injured so just leaves Lacazette
I do hope Wenger sticks to his guns about the team and doesnt allow anyone to leave but we never knoe what Gazidis and Kroenke will do ! If they fo sell our best players and dont recruit replacements then I hope Wenger comes out and says it was out of his hands !
Sell sell sell and where are we going to get the replacements from??
Niles and Nelson? You really want to pass the first team mantle to youth that has not proven itself yet at the highest level? The best we can do for them is to ease them into the team together with current first team players ie: Iwobi. Just relying on youth is a formula for disaster, and if they perform to expectations then fans and critics will bash them and then how ill that do to the confidence and morale? Look at Bellerin, he was thrown into the first team and now believes he is ready because he succeeded in the first season, and yet he comes short in so many areas because he was not given the time to develop at the right pace. Now fans are onto his case which does not do well with a players confidence.
Lastly it’s easier to say we want to buy this player or that player but in reality you cab already see how difficult a player transfer is. If we were to sell all these players you mention, how are we to have depth in the team?
To all those saying Bellerin should have been sold to Barca, what if Ox where to get injured, not that i want him to, but then who would play that position?
And from what i hear, Chelsea are gonna guarantee him first team football for some games so i wouldn’t really blame him for considering, The fault i with Arsenal, we shouldn’t have let all these players contracts run down coz now the Club is in an impossible position of either selling the players now or risk losing them for free next season and possibly to rival clubs.
The ox is getting regular football at arsenal if he thinks he’s going to get more game time at Chelsea think twice Mr ox, Chelsea are much more ruthless when it comes to moving players on once you have a drop in form apart from increased wages arsenal would be mad to sell him for 35 million quid as being reported besides their is no time to get a replacement without paying ridiculous money for a replacement
Two thoughts on this mess;
1) I think the Ox is pissed off that it took so long for Arsenal to start new contract discussions. I remember at least 9 months ago him saying he didn’t know what his future was as Arsenal hadn’t approached him regarding his contract position.
I think Arsenal just assumed they only had to put a contract in front of him, and he’d sign it, without thinking about the consequences of not doing it earlier.
2) Bellerin should have been sold to Barcalona. In 12-24 months, after we’ve further developed him, and turned him into a more complete and rounded player they’ll come back for him, and he’ll go. We should have just sold him for £50+million and let them do the development, while we promote the Ox to more regular football, which we could guarantee with Bellerin gone.
The whole situation has been handled incredibly badly for all our players running into the last year of the contracts.
direct to rival?..no..no..no..
i dnt remember the last time arsenal went into a new season well prepared!
We are a selling club, in nice Arsenal has sold ox it means our outlay is 00:00 and tickets are already sold. This Sanchez saga will go on until the last week then he will be sold and the excuses will come out
Let me play the role of a devil’s advocate here. Ox has been with us since 2011. In 6+ years with the club he scored 9 goals in 129 appearances. Most of time he looks like a headless chicken out there running at three defenders at a time, constantly giving the ball away, and offering practically nothing on defense. He’s injured more times than he’s not. And he still doesn’t know his best/preferred position. I don’t want to hear this “he’s our best RWB” crap because it’s not true. At least Theo finally realized that he’s not a striker, and is best used on the right wing. Do you know how many goals Walcott scored for us in the same time span? 83 in all competitions. Yet he gets a ton of stick for reasons to me unknown. Sure, he can be inconsistent at times, but who isn’t? He’s been a game changer on more than enough occasions. In contrast, I can literally count the amount of decent games Ox has had on one hand, and most of them came at the end of the last season. So what’s with the love affair? For years no one even paid attention to Ox, and pretty much slated him any chance they got. And now that Chelsea want him, all of a sudden he’s all that? He’s not. He’s still the same overrated, overpriced, overhyped, and injury prone player. In lame terms, he’s simply a bum. I’d sell him for 15-20mil, never mind 35. Watch him turn the ball over and then fall on his arse trying to defend against Chelsea in the pre-season game. That pretty much sums up his whole career.
He thinks he would walk on to a top 6 team and displace a starter? Really? Honestly, does anyone, which has watched Ox enough truly believe he could walk on as a starter at a top 6 club? NO WAY!!!! I have read a few times he is asking for a ridiculous salary at Arsenal, that’s what this is about. He sees his pal Theo and et al, and says, hey, what about my pockets???