Liverpool’s bid for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to have hit turbulence according to a report by the Daily Star. The Arsenal man was touted as one of signings that Jurgen Klopp was interested in, after news came out that the 23-year-old’s contract with the Gunners would be ending in 2018.
The London club and the Ox have not been able to renew terms but the report claims that we are not in the running to sign him and aren’t even interested in him at the moment.
The major problem lies with the fact that Oxlade-Chamberlain wants an improved contract over the current one he holds, which is around £80,000-per-week. Any club that is looking to sign him up will have to splash the cash in a big way to ensure that they get the Englishman to their team.
Another problem that lies is the fact that the Ox wants regular first-team football, something that he has not got at Arsenal. There is also no guarantee of the same at Liverpool, as we have already brought in Mohamed Salah from AS Roma.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was seen as a player that can start out wide but that position seems out of reach for the Englishman. We could use him as a right wing-back, a position where he did very well with Arsenal in the final leg of the season. But with Nathaniel Clyne already in the side, it would be unlikely that the Ox would become a first-teamer in that position too.
The third big problem comes with the fact that Aidy Ward is the agent of Oxlade-Chamberlain and we still are pretty miffed about the entire Raheem Sterling transfer to Manchester City a while back. So negotiating with Ward does seem off the table, at the moment.
The report further adds that Arsenal will do their best to re-open negotiations with the Englishman and will try to hold him down to an improved contract.
While the Ox would have been a great player to have in the side given the number of games we will be playing next season, we cannot guarantee him a starting position and if all his demands are true, it would be a crazy deal for us to complete.
The Ox is certainly a player with a lot of potential but hopefully, all the potential don’t go to his head and he makes the right decision about his future soon.
