It would be fair to say Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has had a disappointing season from a footballing point of view. The step forward most expected him to take hasn’t happened. Those most critical might say he’s taken one the other way, but you’d be hard pressed to argue if someone used the word ‘stagnated’ in relation to what he’s done on the pitch.
He’s currently out injured, having picked up a knee ligament problem against Barcelona almost three weeks ago, but that hasn’t stopped him making some headlines this week.
First up, both the Mirror and the Mail, independent of each other, ran very similar stories yesterday about how he would never consider a move to another London club out of respect for Arsenal, and that his focus was on getting fit again for the Gunners.
An injured player focused on getting fit. Imagine.
Then, in this morning’s Times, Henry Winter writes quite specifically about how Oxlade-Chamberlain is a target for Pep Guardiola when he takes over at Man City this summer.
“Oxlade-Chamberlain is known to have impressed the Bayern Munich coach when starring for Arsenal in their 1-1 Champions League draw with the German side in March 2014,” he writes.
“Although the plan is for Oxlade-Chamberlain to operate on the right if recruited by City, he impressed in the centre at the Allianz Arena two years ago.”
He goes on to hint at how such an approach would be viewed, saying, “The prospect of working with Guardiola, let alone a substantial increase in wages, would likely be tempting to the player, who turns 23 in August.”
And why wouldn’t a substantial increase in wages be tempting to anyone? Of course, when you step back and look at the situation it’s easy to see what’s going on here.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s contract expires in 2018, and as is usual these days, clubs want to avoid a situation where they let a player have fewer than 2 years on their contract. That leaves them open to the threat of a Bosman, and increases the power of the bargaining hand the player holds.
Arsenal have a decision to make about the midfielder this summer. He is clearly somebody who Wenger has a great deal of faith in, and there’s obvious talent and potential there, but it has never manifested itself in any consistent way.
These are the beginnings of new contract brinkmanship, no question, but it’s also worth noting that Oxlade-Chamberlain has been linked with agent Aidy Ward, and he has a bit of history with Man City. He more or less made Raheem Sterling’s position at Liverpool untenable, bringing about the £50m transfer last summer.
Whether he’s involved in this, using his City connections, we’ll have to just wait and see.
Let him go for 40 mil 😀
£40,000,001?
So short-sighted.
Give him a break, 22 years old, just searching for consistency. As we all were at that age..
I cannot honestly believe you would rather see him in that sickly pale blue. Disgraceful.
Humour is lost on the internet, I see.
I first saw the Ox play for Southampton at Tranmere in Division 1 just before AFC signed him.He was all over the papers as the next big player coming out of Southampton. On that day he continually overran the ball,put his defence under pressure on several occasions and was eventually substituted. (does this ring a bell). I feel that the Ox has flattered to deceive and the injury he unneccesarily received against Barcelona sums up his problem.He is too inconsistent and his decision making with the ball is suspect.He has been at fault on a number of times in losing… Read more »
Can someone please give Walcott Mr Wards number.
I’ve mentioned this on here in previous seasons, but i guess i’ll have to repeat myself again. Theo goes through periods where everyone thinks hes useless, and then just as we are about to give up on him he suddenly gets hes mojo back and becomes a key member of our 1st team, he keeps getting better and better and just when we think hes on the cusp of greatness he gets injured. When he returns from injury he takes a while for him to get back into the swing of things and we once again think hes useless and… Read more »
I haven’t forgotten that his first touch has remained diabolical throughout his 10 years at the club and that he literally hides in certain matches. When he doesn’t hide he spends most of the game running into players – see the Man Utd game for prime evidence. I don’t think he touched the ball for the first 35 minutes last night, despite us having 70% possession at the time. This isn’t anything to do with injuries, it’s to do with him not being very bright. He scores a couple of indecisive goals (Walcott all over) and then some people forget… Read more »
Your talking about the times i described above when he returns from injury and takes forever to regain form and confidence.
Dont get me wrong, if we sold Theo, i wouldn’t be upset !!
Im just surprised that people haven’t noticed he’s pattern.
You cant tell me that throughout Theo’s 10yrs at Arsenal, they haven’t been moments when he’s impressed you and made you think this boy is good.
We just want to see that part of Theo more times than not and at the moment we aren’t.
I’m really not – I’m talking about his whole 10 years. For the first few years I thought his technique and intellect would develop through experience but he’s no longer a kid and he still sticks out like a sore thumb. I don’t think you can apportion 10 years of underdevelopment solely to injuries, yes there’s a pattern like there is with every player but I think they’ve become a convenient excuse for him too many times. His time at Arsenal will forever be summed up by his very own quote: “consistent in patches”. That’s not a player who wins… Read more »
As a forward you only get the ball when someone passes to you ( even the opposition!). He still made runs and pulled defenders out of position in the first half! I despise the Walcott knockers. No matter what he does, they find something negative to say about him. He can be excellent but has been developed appropriately. He is at his best when he plays by instinct and can be a lethal finisher. Having him in the team forces defences to play deep as they do not want to be exposed to his pace. He does bring something to… Read more »
No he didn’t, he hid next to their right-back until 30 minutes, he didn’t once show for the ball in that time. You can say that he should be passed to but no one’s going to pass to him if he he’s not offering himself for a pass, there wasn’t one occasion in that 30 minutes when we missed a pass to him in a great position. There are a lot of players who are quick – should we go and buy Aaron Lennon simply because he creates space? There are other quick players who can also control a football… Read more »
No, I am a season ticket holder who has watched every one of his ten seasons. Moreover I’ve been attending in person for many years. Over this time I have learnt to discern bad players from average, from good and from great. The truth is he is not quite average. Sorry if that differs from your view but I always try to see what is there and not what I want to see. I do not form spurious affections for players just because they wear the red nor project on to them my affection for the club. The truth is… Read more »
theo has scored 84 goals, and has 69 assists in 213+122 games, so that is him directly involved in 153 goals in 325 games, so averaging direct involvement in 15 goals from 32 games a season across his ten years at the club. and in his last 199 games he has been directly involved in 113 goals, scoring 66 and assisting 47.
Very Impressive stats
Still crap.
He has also left the ball behind 876 times in those games.
Fallen over 11196 times and given the ball away leading to an opposition goal 566 times.
Assists are shit to be honest. You get an assist for taking a corner and even if you misplace a pass.
and what has Rosicky done? the one you all sing praises of?
Walcott is not liked but at least his numbers mean he a contributes even more than Ramsey, Rosicky, chambo, welbeck,
Agree the stats look good. But they don’t do stats for hiding in plain sight, running the ball into touch, passing directly back to the right back who has passed to you, giving the ball away through poor touch. These are all things which ought to be improved through training under great manager with some great players. But they haven’t.
When we were struggling financially he was a gamble worth taking. Now we’re financially competitive we have to upgrade the playing staff who are the outliers. And I’m afraid he is the most obvious.
And that’s good is it?
Not everyone mate. Too many fans expect all English players to be like Messi, nigh on perfect, all because the British media hype them up so much. The Romford Pele was no messi but he is a legend, he had good games and bad games and very good games and some very bad games as did Adams, Keown, Ljungberg, Pires, Vieira, Wrighty….. All legends. Some fans have very very very short memories. Their and Ox have not lived up to the hype…. Who created that hype? Who’s to say how good they were ever going to be? Is there a… Read more »
Great talent but gossip from the club is that the Ox is lazy. Cash in now. Feel like we have hung on to too many travellers. We need more like Welbeck, who work hard and stay away from the flashlights of social media.
Sorry but that’s a ridiculous narrative. You’re seriously saying that he’s lazy? Talking about him like he’s part of your average sunday league side saying Ox is just that lazy twat with all the ability but none of the drive feels incredibly presumptuous, negligent and plain absurd. Not one premier league footballer got where they are today by being lazy. Even then what’s to say Welbeck’s not lazy? Why did you even pick Welbeck? What on earth are you basing this on? And since when did working hard coincide with not having social media? Messi’s got instagram, is he a… Read more »
This lad has phenomenal pace, good passing range and is British! He has my backing and you have to remember he’s only 22. I’d like us to try him as a striker though as I’ve done that kind of thing on FIFA and you would be surprised the type of results it can carve.
We all know that championship manager is the only way to tell someone’s talent in real life. Pffff FIFA. Can I ask, are you fucking serious?
LOL!
It’s true you know. On earlier versions of FIFA, I took the defensive Real Madrid Spanish legend, Fernando Hierro, transferred him to Arsenal, gave him blonde hair and maxxed all his stats and played him at centre forward. Because his surname sounded like mine, I could live out my Arsenal dreams of scoring hattrick after hattrick and with the commentator saying how marvellous I was. Anyway, back in the real world, gotta go my toast is burning.
There was an old fool from Ibiza, who thinks real life football’s like Fifa, Chambo up front? Don’t be such a cunt, I’ll shut up now and spark up my reefer
Sorry I don’t think you’re a cunt really.. Poetic licence an’ all that
He would be a fantastic striker if it wasn’t for inability to hold the ball up in tight spaces and the complete absence of any composure in front of goal.
So apparently a guy can’t even have an opinion on here without getting berated and having a witch hunt. Obviously Fifa is not something you base million dollar deals on but it can act as a pillar, Arsenal use different statistical companies to help evaluate talent so why not a system that simulates players? Sterling has performed decently there and can anyone tell me what exactly about hi doesn’t suit that position?
Don’t give the day job fella. Anything to do with football is clearly out of reach. Mind you I do remember as a kid using David Oleary in centre forward position on me subbuteo and although it didn’t quite work as me big sausage like fingers kept pushing him too hard he did score a couple of blinders. I’m gutted I never thought of offering the possibility of Arsenal using stats from me subbuteo. Ah well missed opportunitys hey. Back to the drawing board
You are taking the p*ss right….?
Mate calm down with the swearing. So if Wenger switches Henry from The wing to Striker, he’s a genius but if bambooney does it he’s a mug. You lot don’t have your finger on the pulse. I’m not claiming mertesacker play there, but rather a player who plays as a forward anyway. Live in your fish tanks whilst I swim in my sea. Like Wenger said too many fans are driven by emotion. Go on and dislike as if that hurts me. Legit the only view I respect on here is Bloggsy, 7am and rambling Pete. Chambers for ST.
“So if Wenger switches Henry from The wing to Striker, he’s a genius but if bambooney does it he’s a mug.”
It’s almost as if there’s some difference, something I can’t quite put my finger on, between the two situations.
Quality sir, made me chuckle.
Dear Bambooney, you seem to like sparking discussions and keeping it going. You are good at it. Love your name too. Will probably nickname some player from Tottenham, Bambooney. If Bale was still there, would fit him perfectly. Love the sound if it, really.
Bambooney Bale? Yeah, it’s good. I like it. Decidedly better than Bambooney Rooney.
The club needs to stand strong I feel. we are no longer in a position where we need money from player sales in order to afford replacements. Yes it all contributes but we are in a position now where we don’t rely on it. Should be made clear that we are more than happy to reward performances and consistency with wage increases and new contracts. But if you players underachieve and we do want to retain them, then we should stay strong and either run their contract down or offer a renewal of the same contract. Time to set players… Read more »
You can’t on the one hand be unhappy with the team’s results and on the other exclude blame for the players who have underperformed. He’s a perfect symbol of why this team isn’t where we want it to be – inconsistent, injury-prone, too nice, a bit lacking between the ears and not hardworking enough (his defensive work leaves a lot to be desired). Nobody should be safe if we can find an improvement and I think it’s fair to say that the Ox has been given his chances and could not complain if we moved him on. As for City,… Read more »
Sell!! He’s not good enough.
Ox,Walcott,Flamini,Rosicky,Arteta,Wilshere….getting rid of this deadwood would be a huge weight off the shoulders of the club.
Sell an England international who has bags of potential… Hmmm no!
Haha. I love how the word “international” is used to allude to some sense of superiority. Absolute bollocks. The last time England won anything was 1966.
Geoff Thomas and Carlton Palmer were England internationals.
The defence rests, pulls out a cigar and pours the brandy…..,
Ox hasn’t had the best season and he’s been quite frustrating . A lot has been expected from him and he just hasn’t delivered. I’m still having nightmares about him losing the ball and the opposition scoring. That goes for Walcott as well. I would give him another season to show what he can do. With other players coming through the ranks I wouldn’t be surprised if Wenger offloads him. Good luck to him either way.
No poo-meter? There should be one!!1!
It’s Pep’s way of saying I don’t want Raheem sterling. I won’t be surprised if Jack wilshere’s name is also mentioned in the future.
Pep please there are a thousand other teams in the world look away from arsenal ffs.
only a handful that have top quality home grown players.
We’ve got time to give him another year to see what he does and then either sell next Summer (or even Winter for a premium) or offering him a better contract. No need to rush into an extension this Summer.
Now I know that I’m not an expert, I’ve certainly got absolutely no first or second-hand football agent experience, but to my unqualified mind it doesn’t appear the finest strategy ever recounted to go about hawking an injured player who has had a pretty underwhelming season by any stretch of the imagination? Just me.
Well, we’re a fucked up complaining bunch. I promise you we’ll be complaining about selling Sanchez himself if he doesn’t score atleast 7 more goals this season. We’re already asking for him to benched. Hahahahaha the misery of being a fellow Arsenal fan.
So go on. Mock the 22-year-old Ox when he’s down.
Yet these are the fans who are quick to call the Arsenal team a bunch of bottlers…
I’m not mocking the ox, I’m mocking his agent for thinking this is a suitable or appropriate time to be talking up his player’s value to other clubs, appropriate either for Arsenal or for Alex himself. If he wants an upwards move, he needs another good season here frankly. It’s been one step forward, two steps back this season – and I really rate him and hope he makes it with us.
He’s not going anywhere. Wenger started him against Barca. If that doesn’t show how much faith Wenger has in him to everyone who has doubts, then I guess we’ll just have to wait til the announcement of his contract extension.
All of his problems started this season with his new hairstyle…
That’s where Arteta enters the picture.
Why sell him he’s only 22, should send out on loan like we did with Jenko. If anyone should be sold it should be Walcott.
Definitely keep The Ox. He’s only 23 and if stays injury free will develop, he has it all is his locker technically.
Wish Pep was coming to Arsenal (where he should be), but now that he is not I hope he crashes and burns in the Prem
He’s another talent that’s stunted due to his fragility. It was a really heavy collision, but you just knew as soon as it happened- he won’t be able to handle that. Ox is a few steps away from Wilshere, who will simply always struggle with fitness, but he’s on his way.
Just feels like we always have too many of these ‘bonus’ players in our squad, but Ox hasn’t even managed to develop into that type of player. He’s a squad player sleepwalking through the wonderkid stage with a horrible injury record.
Good riddance!
Theo please, not the Ox.
Who is in favour of a Sterling / Ox swap? I certainly would!
Slightly different perspective RE our injuries, could it be that our medical staff are just too good. Lesser teams probably have players playing through injuries all the time. Just a thought based on no actual evidence at all. Also, I knew Walcott would score and now his misplaced self belief is going to explode but he’ll go missing in the next game. Am liking the elneny, very tidy player, great movement and always available for a pass. Anyway, bring on Watford and then barca, who I’m convinced we can beat….
Well, we should have won the first game. It was a very solid performance up until the 70th min… Then the best player that ever lived stepped up after we missed some glorious chances… It still upsets me, obviously!
And flamini just coming on and just kicking people dont help…
Yes, no oh I don’t know. Actually yes. Sell the fuck out of him.
Campbell has shown a lot more on the pitch this season than the Ox. What would it tell to players like Campbell if Wenger keeps faith in the Ox and continues to start him next season? Sell him to a club like Southampton or abroad and everyone would be better off. Don’t feel too good about him going to a direct rival as everyone can see the potential he has, the time has just run out for him at arsenal.
Lol Pep would develop him into the player we all know he can be, and the fickle arsenal fans will be in up-roar. Hes staying wenger started him against barca he has that much faith in him
We should send him to Charlton imo. They would help him find his mojo and could come back in beast mode.
For the Ox as an individual, he needs to ask himself if he’s going to get the best of himself at Arsenal. He may look at theo and think he can easily earn what he does, but he may also look at theo and think there’s no way he wants to be so unsuccessful after so much time. Wenger has a history of shoehorning players into roles that they don’t necessarily want to play. It works exceptionally well sometimes (Henry, Ljungberg) but other times it just kills a player. For all theos flaws, he’s the kind of player that if… Read more »
Agree partly but I think Wenger has been really good using limited players to their strengths during his years at arsenal. Players like Adebayor, Eboue, Denilson, Bendtner, Eduardo, Senderos and many others have looked like really good players in an arsenal side and never reached a similar level after they left. I think this is mostly down to wenger using them to their strengths. Agree though Giroud and Walcott are atm played/intructed to roles that don’t suit them but that is more down to rotation (remember alexis and ozil weren’t playing yesterday). I also doubt that wenger has instructed Giroud… Read more »
Eduardo was a classy, quality player. The only reason he didn’t realise his potential was the broken leg at Birmingham.
I have profound regrets over our little Crozilian. One of my favourite Arsenal players of the Wenger years.
I totally agree. We need to play to his strengths and zone in on them. Like coq understanding what he’s good at and just doing that – to great effect. Ox doesn’t play at the moment like a player who is confident of his role. I think the same thought could be applied to quite a lot of squad actually.
thank you one of the most intelligent comments on here compared to the utter drivel!!!
I think his hairdo has something to do with the dip in his form.
Looks like getting an atrocious haircut was a part of his master-plan to move to Citeh
I agree that at 22years old the ox should be playing in ‘his’ position and learning and growing as a CM. Rw every now and then isnt what he should be doing. Doesnt help him or us. But he needs to produce when he plays. Scoring, assisting, work rate and just solid 7/10 ratings week in week out. Any less isnt good enough for titlw winning/top 4 teams really.
There was an interesting vignette about Tom Ince, before the recent 4th round FA Cup tie between Derby County and Manchester United. They spoke of footballers with famous footballing fathers (Ince and Schmeichel), and how those sons benefitted from dropping down a league to escape the media glare and constant comparisons to their famous fathers. One wonders if there would be similar value for Oxlade-Chamberlain :-/
although we have about 200~250 cash reserves knowing our board we wouldnt use much of it, not unless we sell first. if we cash in about 70 for him n walcott and bring in a Griezmann (who has a release clause of 50 millions) i say we had a good summer to our super low transfer standards(least for the kroenkes era)
So spend 200-250 m.
How do you pay people next week?
there are top europian clubs mosy of them have 20~50 million reserves,actually 5 clubs have above that much. they pay by weekly income, tickets, yearly sponsor deals, head board members n ect. after arsenal there is united with about 150 n then real madrid with 80 million reserves they spend the whole bunch every season n funny thing is just about 30 percent of the money spent on superstars comes back to the club in less than a month by player announcments n shirt sales. let alone end of the season if the club actually wins something! so yes they… Read more »
Let’s not sell him to Man City because we don’t have to sell our players anymore. Also, fuck Man City.
Don’t dismiss chemistry in the dressing room; by all accounts a great teammate, bff’s with Carl Jenkinson, one of the British “core” of the team.
Much as Ox, Wilshere, Ramsey, Gibbs, Walcott et al are frustrating, I can’t see us selling any of them.
He’s British, that’s the most important thing. As such, given the ridiculous quota system, he isn’t competing with the rest of the team – he’s competing for a “British player” slot.
If we sold him, who would we replace him with? Short of buying some youngster from the champsionship and hoping they grow there arn’t exactly a lot of top class British footballers around any more that would be an upgrade on Ox.
For the British spot, I reckon a massive upgrade would be LOLcott out and Stokes in.
Too bad Brendan ‘Pep’ Rodgers isn’t around as he would have willingly paid over the odds for Theo.
Let him go. Do not fall into another trap like is beenbwith wolcot for 10 years. He has been given enough chances to show consistency and he has not. Like wolcot he has speed but lack football intelligence.
Its walcott and i dont agree hes had enough chances in his longterm position. Hes a young lad, give him another chance.