Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed that he always favoured a move to Arsenal over Manchester United having admired the Gunners playing style since he was a child.
Prior to his move to the Emirates it was well documented that both Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger were keeping tabs on the teenager’s progress at Southampton, but despite the speculation the Ox reveals that he was happy to keep his head down until putting pen-to-paper at the Emirates.
Speaking to Sport Magazine’s Sarah Shephard, Chamberlain relayed how events panned out in the months before signing on in North London.
“It was a bit surprising at first, because I used to watch Match of the Day every week and dream of coming to a massive club like Arsenal. But my parents never let me get carried away, and at the same time I had a lot of respect for all my teammates at Southampton.
“It was nice to hear all those clubs were interested, but it wasn’t hard for me to keep my feet on the ground – I had a lot of commitments at Southampton that season.
“So I just kept my head down and focused on that. You almost let everything take care of itself, as it did in the end.
“I always favoured Arsenal. It’s a massive club and I’ve loved the way they’ve played football and brought players through.
“When I was younger, I used to go and watch Southampton versus Arsenal when they came to the club and loved watching Thierry Henry.
“I went to the Emirates a few times, too, and the atmosphere was just unbelievable. So it wasn’t a hard decision for me.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Chamberlain also confirmed that the first time he met Arsene Wenger was the day he arrived at Arsenal to finalise his contract. Revealing that the boss proved motivating from the off, he continued:
“The first time I met him [Wenger] was actually on the day I signed. He’s a nice man, you know? He’s very calm and has that aura about him – you know he’s the boss.
“The way he speaks is really intelligent and everything he said to me on the first day was quite inspirational, it gave me a lot of drive to come in and prove that he made the right decision to sign me.”
There’s probably not an Arsenal fan in the land that doesn’t believe Chamberlain’s signing was another masterstroke by the boss. His raw talent is there for all to see and his development in the last 18 months has been impressive. Now a regular starter for both club and country the hope now is that he fully fulfills his obvious potential.
woop
I almost cried reading this,such a great club.Its just a pity I was shit at football I never got to play for the gunners.
You made the right choice son.
@ Lettraggad… SON?? Are you Mark Chamberlain in disguise?
Don’t tell anyone .. I try to keep a low profile.
Kudos to his old man on helping to bring up such a level headed kid. Must be great in the Ox’s position to have someone at his shoulder that’s been there and done it.
Does make you feel fuckin old though, having watched his Dad plenty of times..
Don’t tell anyone .. I try to keep a low profile.
That’s because you are old. 🙂
Saucy git. Why I oughta….
Romney2012 .. hey I dont want it but it’s happening. The Mayan calender says so.
UNITED IS RUBBISH.
UNITED IS RUBBISH.
UNITED IS RUBBISH.
Fuck van persie and his “directions”, come on you chambo. Up the arse!
And you always will.
He would have grown up seeing Arsenal in their pomp. Seeing Henry, Pires, Bergkamp et al doing the business week in, week out, year in, year out. The way Arsenal played in the late 90’s, early 2000’s would have be enough to turn any neutral into a fan lest I mention the Invincibles……*sigh* Those will be the best memories……..
Those are great memories, but they won’t be the last. I think the balance we’re getting in the team right now, the players we have coming through and the experience of the older guys. The Glory days won’t just be fond, rose-tinted memories. We’ll be living them again soon.
We’re on our way back to the top.
COME ON ARSENAL!
How I wish this proved to be true.
But the truth is, no one, no other club in England will replicate the perfect poetry in motion that we witnessed in that era. No club will have that again, let alone the same club.
But that’s the price to pay for reaching that level of art&performance. And it doesn’t mean we can’t look forward to other huge achievements: retaining the league title and winning the Champions League. Those will be glorious days.
Seeing Pires, Bergkamp and especially Henry made me a fan. As an American, I had no idea which team was which but I became especially fond of how good this “Arsenal” team was on Fifa 2002 especially how many goals I scored with Henry. Then I started watching the team however I could online and I fell in love. Magic.
chambo sounds decent and well grounded. as a player his talent and potential is as bright as d sun. he is a mucher better player than theo imo
heres to hoping he has a glorious and trophy laden career with The Arsenal
I’m also 19. So he probably experienced those cold Highbury nights… watching Ljungberg and Pires feed Dennis and Henry. There’s really no surprise he chose Arsenal, we’re the best team in the world. The way we play, our philosophy, our class. Everything. Glad the guy chose us!!
Oh boy, do I miss those Highbury nights as a kid… Emirates doesn’t come close 🙁
I’m with you there, I miss them as an adult. First game for me at Highbury was QPR 2-1 88-89.., still , onwards and upwards and all that jazzy hands stuff.
Highbury was a fantastic place, I remember having tears in my eyes as I left after the Wigan game, knowing I would never go there again. The flip side to that is I remember watching a midweek game against the saints in about 96/97, buying a ticket about an hour before the match (can’t believe we could do that) and being sat at the very back of the east stand lower where the over hang of the upper tier came down into my sight line so once the ball went 4 ft off the ground I lost sight of it,… Read more »
Alex, you are an inteligent guy and I love the way you play keep it up, sky is your limit ,come on you gunner we are winning trophies this season
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU2Spdl1oX8
Interview
I just watched the interview on Talksport’s youtube channel
And I think Ben beat me to it
Probably regrets the decision now that he knows he’ll never win any silverware.
I know, just to think he could be getting his leg over some old northern ladies right now. Poor lad.
Typical troll. Fuck off back to your rudolf manager.
Agreed, but I’m not entirely sure what RvP has to do with this topic.
aaron Ramsey chose arsenal over man u too. He actually went to old trafford n met sir alex then decided to sign for afc. So good to c loyal british players at afc at least you know by they’re 25 they wont be playing for barce chelsea or city unless they r like ashley cole whos just a rotten apple.
Lets wait and see what Theo does
Ramsey is in fact a Man U fan. He was supposed to meet Alex Ferguson but insread it was Gary Neville who showed him around. This swayed his decision to come to Arsenal because demento couldn’t be arsed to give him a tour of OT. Wenger, always the gentleman, took time to give Ramsey a tour. Class is permanent.
The ‘ox’ needs to spend some time with the little child inside Van Pursestrings….
After that time spent that little child will feel as if he threw away a bag full of candies and goodies just to hear a monstrous red nosed uncle spew venom at him – most of which he can’t decipher most of the time!!!!
#RESPECT OX.
Right, where’s our daily Arteta story?
The only way to get through the torture of the Interlull.
I hate the interlull while it’s happening, but it does make it more exciting when we play again.
A mate of mine posed this question which has kept my mind occupied all morning. If we had Bergkamp, Wrighty and Henry at the club today, do you think Arsene could incorporate all three into the team without compromising their individual strengths? Answers on a postcard please.
Good question. Has to be DB in his No 10 role, Wrighty up top, Henry out left cutting in. Stick Le Bob or Freddie cutting in from the right and you’ve got a nice diamond shape.
And a forward line equivalent of a can of Whoop Ass.
I like the look of that, bobby on the right for me, although would TH14 do his share of defensive work on the left? Would be a nice problem to have.
Hope the Ox stays for many years alongside Jack wilshere and both become legends that inspire others.
If you’re a young player and want to learn to play football the right way there is no choice but Arsenal! The Ox, JW#10, Ryo, Gnabry, Eisfeld, etc are the building blocks of a future invincible squad!
I’m not too sure about Ramsey’s United links, he’s known to admire Giggs and model his playing style on Keane. Also it wasn’t just that Wenger gave him a tour when Fungus didn’t, it was that Wenger was so keen to meet him that he arranged a private jet for Aaron and his family to fly to Switzerland.
Coming to Arsenal is pretty much a no brainer though, Theo Walcott only has an England career because he signed for Arsenal.
I can understand admiring Giggs, he’d probably like to still be shagging welsh bimbos when he gets to that age too.
Model his playing style on Keane? I’m afraid I just can’t see Rambo in the “piggy-eyed midfield thug” role.
Thumbs up Chamberlain, and good decision for choosing Arsenal over those devilish cunts at oldtrashford!
Check out what that gum chewing monster has to say about Chamberlain, I bet the man is a cunt http://profitsee.org/ref.php?page=act/ref&invcod=32135
Somebody block this cunt
Before 1996, I did not like to watch ‘kick and rush’ league. But after I saw how Arsenal grew and how we played, I’ve been falling in love with AFC since that. Now I’m gooners forever.
[…] 来源：[Arseblog News] […]