There have been quite a few Arsenal transfer rumours in recent weeks about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the likelihood of the England international star leaving Arsenal in the summer for pastures new. West Ham were mentioned as a possible destination for the young player and it was even said that he had been offered to them.
Other clubs have been mentioned as well, and it was no surprise to see that his former club Southampton were among them and now one of their current players has admitted that he has been trying to persuade the Ox to go back to St. Mary’s in the summer.
The current captain of the Saints is Jose Fonte and he played with the Arsenal man when they were both at the academy there. The two are still close friends and so Fonte has used that friendship to bend Chamberlain’s ear about going back, as a Daily Mail report reveals. From that insider knowledge, however, we now learn that the Ox is not planning to go anywhere and is perfectly happy to stay at Arsenal and you would think he would know if his time with us was up.
Fonte said, ‘I know Chambo from Southampton. We played together when he was only 15 or 16. So I’ve known him for a long time.
‘I know how good he is. And I’m not going to lie – we talked about it. I asked him, I spoke to him. I’m good friends with him. I want the best for him. But what can I say? He’s an Arsenal player.’
‘He’s happy there. He has the quality to be a star player at Arsenal, no doubt about it. But what I mean is we would love to have him back. Of course we would! If we want to put out a team to fight for trophies, to fight in European competitions, why not?
‘But it’s up to him. He knows he has a place in our hearts and he knows that any time he wants a place in Southampton he has it. We are going in the right path. We want to achieve better and bigger things. So it’s up to him.’
Chamberlain has come in for an increasing amount of criticism in the last year or two and even when fit he is not a first choice starter for Wenger so I assumed he would be high on the list of players that might leave Arsenal this summer. Fonte appears to have proved this wrong though, so which Arsenal stars are set for the axe from the boss? How many and which ones would you get rid of?
I think sanchez is gone, he didn’t give wenger a handshake or look at him when walking off and just went straight down the tunnel… ozil will probably follow suit
I think Oxlade would be making a good decision for himself if he went back up to sou. The improvement that he needs to make is going to be tough at Arsenal. He needs to be playing on a regular basis, needs to get a good run of confidence going and the best way to get that is if your starting games each week. It’s a wonder his shooting record is so poor, he gets into dangerous areas but then nothing comes of it. If he was at Southampton playing AM behind the front players I think he might do well. I wouldn’t want to see him to Liverpool because Klopp might get more out of him, and we could regret it. Same goes for Chelsea, and city, it’s probably only filling the quota for them but why take the risk. We should sell him to Sou in a similar deal to Madrid selling Morata.
they definitely don’t practice shooting at colney, elneny’s only just come out and said as much. Wenger would rather keep us passing the ball around until someone play its into giroud who falls over whilst attempting to play it backwards or ramsey playing a wayward pass in the midfield. Yes Alex would get a lot out of playing regularly but a part of me thinks he just hasn’t developed what is usually wenger’s speciality, close control and combinational play.
Iwobi has shown he has both and is the same age as alex when he came, unless alex can improve his decision making he won’t fit into our style of play (which I concede is useless atm and outdated) but he could do really well for a counter attacking team I think. I hope he goes back to soton on loan so he gets games though
After Ozil gave him that through ball and he toe punts it with his right when, if he had a left foot it would have been 2up. He is getting worse Campbell is a better all round player, why he gets no game is mystifying. Ozil needs quality to feed and if they have not got good control its waisted and that is why he gets frustrated. Giroud is not the answer, you need pace, skill to benifit Ozils touch, mabey when Wilshire gets in you will appreciate Ozil more as he has skill and pace on and off the ball. Hope to see Wilshire Coquelin Elerny Welbeck and Campbell in for Sanches against City. My team Chec Chambers Gabriel Kosheny Monreal
Elerny Coquelin
Campbell Wilshire Ozil
Welbeck
All pace for Ozil to feed has to be a trier.Then on bench Sanches Ramsey Awobi Gazola Bellerin Walcott. Make think a bit as to why dropped to bench CB
Hmmm i think he went straight down the tunnel because of the slight knock he took earlier in the game. Way too much negativity on this site..
With the coaches coming into the league next season,Christmas has come early for agents. With the deep pockets of Man city and Chelsea’s owners and Man United commercial wealth, you can expect agents to start looking for another huge payday.
I personally think Sanchez will leave.
Top Players do that all the time when they get taken off too early, it doesn’t mean he is leaving
If he leaves it will be because Wenger doesn’t spend money and low ambition
Yip, Sanchez has never been happy ever since he returned from injury. Something is awefully wrong somewhere. There is also some tale-tale signs in Ozil too. True to say, I don’t want Chambo to leave, but his development is somehow stunted. Wish him the best of luck if he decides to.
Looking back on it, could we really blame rvp, fabregas, nasri, sagna etc for leaving? If we end up losing ozil and sanchez what will have been the point in paying for a new stadium when clearly we cant hold onto the type of players to make us an “elite team” as promised? There’s nowhere for wenger to hide if these two go, unless he walks out the door first, but a part of me thinks even that wouldn’t be enough, he’d find some sort of excuse
I wrote a reply up there to jt saying the same thing, brought up Ozil and how one of the front players pissed him right off today, and then there’s the ref. Alexis and Ozil did not look like they are in a happy camp. I cancelled the reply though because it got a bit winded in the end.
World class instinct ……… They wanna work with fellow world class players
*Ozil wants a world class striker
*Sanchez wants a world class winger
The last kid( if you want to call them that), to move closer to world class status at arsenal were Kolcieny and Fabregas.
Those players benefitted from the environment through which they developed.
One thing come to all the others arsenal youngsters is stunted growth and development.
The academy is so poor. Nothing is coming out of there. They disguise this fact by raiding other academies.
Even those players stop developing.
They cannot shoot
They cannot cross
They can not tackle
They cannot press
And the worst of all, they lack football brains.
Absolutely horrendous, ridiculous comment. How many world class players out there are Londoners at the moment? I can’t think of any. Harry Kane could make it to that level perhaps, so might Wilshere & Iwobi. If they are educated at Arsenal then they are products of the Arsenal youth system. We eclipse any other big club in England in that department, with ease.
I feel extremely apologetic personally for Sanchez and Ozil that they left such high aspiring clubs to join Arsenal only to be left surrounded by clowns like Giroud and Ramsey. They are used to playing in teams where the players have guile, determination, resilience and the urgency to kill teams off during a match. Both of them look fed up of the current situation. They are winners and this is the peak of their careers. I’m fully confident that they will depart this summer to another club. And I know everyone can see this happening but can we really object it?! They were fed false hopes and lies by Wenger to lure them to join Arsenal.
And of all people I would like to say sorry to Campbell. I don’t know what more that kid had to do to reserve a starting place in this team. He was clearly our best player on the wings when Sanchez was injured. And for all his hard work & impact he gets rewarded by Wenger who f$^ks him off to make way for his son Walcott.
Wenger has turned into a lunatic. And there’s no saving him. God Save The Arsenal.
One good performance from Wilshere and Iwobi will get demoted to the bench in a similar fashion to Campbell. Both Campbell and Iwobi is at the begaining of their careers first season in the premier league and on low wages. Therfore, it will not effect them mentally, but the situation is different for Welbeck and Walcott who has spent eight and ten years playing in the premier league they are now considered verterans in terms of playing time. If mr wenger had to drop them to the bench on a regular bases, I personally believe that thier performance would be adversely effected and would properbly want to leave.
well said bru
can’t believe my beloved team’s gone into deep decadence
As long as Wenger is still the manager of AFC we can never win the title until he leaves, he doesn’t have the passion Diego simeone, klopp or Guadiola has to motivate there teams. Imagine our current squad under the above mentioned managers.. They will lead and motivate out players to the title.. Wenger is past his best already and I am so worried of my beloved arsenal, because gradually we are turning to a mid table team
I don’t think Wenger will let any of his younger flock go. Ramsey, Ox, Wilshire probably even Theo will all be able to go on and collect there big checks next season.
Wenger even send a strong signal Giroud is here to stay other wise he would not have started an obviously struggling striker in what was a crucial game for Wenger.
What Wenger and the club and fans supporting Wenger don’t seem to understand is that to most of the fans not happy with the state of affairs at Arsenal, it is not about the results. We would still all support the club even in 10th place. It is the lack of trying that angers us. Not a single outfield player bought despite obvious needs and vulnerabilities. Even if we had signed Falcao and he had not scored a single goal we could still believe Wenger knows what we need to win, he just would have chosen wrong (not unlike Man U and Chelsea), it is the lack of trying that send the signal “4th is good enough”. This is what angers us. Having more that 100 million in the bank and not investing in the squad that is what angers us, not finishing 4th or 1st or 12th.
We stood by the club when there was no money and no investment, now there is money and no investment. That tell a different story.