Arsene Wenger says that it’s vital that Arsenal keep hold of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and that it would cause ‘big damage’ to the club if he didn’t extend his contract.
The midfielder is heading towards the final 12 months of his current deal, along with players like Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Jack Wilshere.
The Arsenal manager is keen to hang onto the Ox, and the other members of the so-called British core.
“I personally think it’s vital that Chamberlain stays at Arsenal,” he said.
“We bought him when he was very young and built him up. He has a great mentality and a good football brain and it would be big damage for us to lose this kind of player.”
The 23 year old has had his best season in terms of goals and assists, and has caught the eye playing more centrally, rather than out wide, somewhere Wenger sees him in the long-term.
“That’s always what I’ve had in mind,” he said. “I’ve played him there a few years ago and I think he did well. He’s offensive and you can feel as well that he’s a guy who can get out of pressure because of his dribbling skill.
“And he has penetrating skills and in midfield that is important. I find as well that sometimes on the flank he is out of the way. In the middle he’s more focused, he needs to be involved in the game.”
However, Oxlade-Chamberlain is not the only one over whom there are questions marks, but the manager appears keen to hang onto all of his homegrown talents.
“We have to keep them all,” he said. “Ramsey, Chamberlain, Wilshere, Gibbs. All these players we have to make decisions and manage to keep them together.”
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Fairly definitive yet slightly weird comments. Gibbs, Wilshere? I can’t see why he’s so insistent on these two players, one who’s on loan all season and one whose hardly figures..
Definitely wouldn’t keep jenks or Ramsey. Both of them have stagnated. I would keep the ox & jack as long as they accept squad player roles. Gibbs needs to seriously improve if he wants to stay at the arsenal.
Lool – you’ll keep wilshere over Ramsey because the latter has stagnated? That makes very little sense to me.
I think the Ox sort of needs to sort himself out, he clearly has absolutely bags of talent but he doesn’t seem to be any better then when we first got him from Southampton. You’ve got a player in Alexis who the Ox shares really similar attributes with; bags of explosive power, technical ability, pace. So if I was him, I would be doing everything to try and mould myself into Alexis, or as close as I could. I’d be upping my work rate a tonne, trying to find some self-confidence from somewhere to build on, and I’d really be… Read more »
Imo, the Ox has definitely developed since his arrival. And absent injury has had his best season yet this season.
Sell Ramsey…..Jenks and Wilshire…
Cause Wilshere and Gibbs are Arsenal youth players! What would be the difference between ourselves and United or Chelsea if we ship out these kind of players and replace them by expensive alternatives who don’t know the Arsenal way?
We’ve shipped out plenty of Arsenal Youth players down the years that had bags of talent, that in my opinion were at times just as good as the likes of Gibbs, Wilshere etc.. so I don’t think letting any of those guys go isn’t ‘the Arsenal way.’ Ultimately they haven’t really improved at all. The only real exceptions are Wilshere and Ramsey but they are constantly injured so its impossible for them to ever regain any sort of proper form. The only reason why Wilshere has featured so much for Bournemouth this season is due to the fact that he… Read more »
It’s professional competition. It’s all about league titles and trophies, glory and anticipation. What do you think it is? A district school game?
Can’t escape the feeling that if these guys were born outside of the UK, they wouldn’t have had so many chances. I understand the need for homegrown players but they should not be in the team based on a quota alone. Time to step up boys.
And I can’t escape the feeling that these players get more stick than others because they’re British!
I think Wenger is trying to play the market. He wants to at least try and pretend that a few of those players are still in the club’s plans.
Atleast thats what we hope, is going through Wenger’s mind.
Else…………………
we are stuck with Ramsey and co for another 2 seasons; till a new manager steps in.
Gibbs and Jenkinson simply have to leave. They need to move on to reignite their stagnated careers. I’d also say the same of Ramsey, whose style of play just doesn’t suit us any more, and we could do without relying on a player with such a torrid injury record. Wilshere can sod off. Forcing a loan to a lower-mid table team where’s he’s looked nothing more than ordinary/average, all because his ill-deserved sense of entitlement derived from his one and only top quality season six years ago makes him expect to walk into the starting eleven without fighting for his… Read more »
Wengerbollocks. Move on.
What else would you expect Wenger to say about any of his players? Oh he’s not that important I could take him or leave him? Wenger’s not about to throw the media a bone for nothing.
I remember when he said that Santos was still very important 3 day before rescinding his contract…
British core, meh. This is club football, we shouldn’t give a damn where our players come from as long as they fight for the Arsenal.
Yes we should.
If would be odd if he came out and said ‘well you know he is shit, i’m going to sell him’
Yeah, Wenger isn’t exactly gonna sell his players down the river here. Nothing to see here.
Of that list, it’s mainly Jack and Ox I want us to keep. Purely for experiment, id like to one day see a midfield 3 of Xhaka, Jack and Ox; with the latter two making us a very direct and dribbling team than the current passing we are. Not sure if it would work, but would like to see it in preseason.
Guys like Jenks and Gibbs are done. And I’m personally done with Ramsey.
I agree with some of your points but beg to differ on Ramsey. I think the fact that both Wilshere and Ramsey still don’t know what their best position is, can be attributed to being played all over the midfield by Arsene. Having said that, both of them can be useful as the more attacking central midfielder in a 4-3-3. I struggle to see Ramsey in a 4-2-3-1 in any position. Jack’s current season has given me hope. It was all about getting back on track. Next season should be about trying to get to the next level in terms… Read more »
(Insert post about how i agree with some of your points but not all of them)
(Insert post about how this (insert post) ‘thing’ is not as funny as it was the first time round)
No need to be like that
” …both Wilshere and Ramsey still don’t know what their best position is, can be attributed to being played all over the midfield by Arsene”
Arsene also personally hit them with a sledgehammer while they were sleeping that’s why they are injured all the time. Balderdash. The one thing Wenger is guilty of is shielding them a lot. None of the them have held down a place in any of the said positions when faced with competition.
Well, not that Wenger hit them with a sledgehammer… But do you remember when Jack broke through and Wenger said he needed to be carefully managed and not play often because he didn’t want to overload him and cause him to be injury prone? Remember how he then played him for virtually the whole season non-stop? Remember when he did the same to Ramsey? Arsene and the club do need to share some responsibility for that. All research has indicated to overuse of young players leading to chronic muscular injuries due to improper adaptation to loads and the biomechanical changes… Read more »
Agree with the Xhaka Ox Wilshere combo, it’s one Id personally like to see given a shot. I’m still willing to give Ramsey a shot too but I have to admit I wouldn’t be too broken up if he decided to move on atm
Well done loose cannon, admitting the problem is the first step towards acceptance ??
What does THAT mean? ?
I think we could sell someone from the middle…
plus Campbell…
plus 1 goalkeeper…
and a striker… (for example: even if most of us like Lucas a lot – if he is not given opportunities…)
Then: this would be my first choice attack for nex year:
Lukaku
Alexis The Ox
Özil
Lukaku is Sanogo with better balance.
…and with 20 goals/season
Which British talent can improve Arsenal at the moment? Wenger has always been disliked for not being British! Hope it does not affect referees and the FA…..
Jenks, Wikshere and Gibbs-Even the players stagnate under Wenger. #wengerout
Absolutely. Jenks has gone to shit ever since he came back to us having won the World Cup. Gibbs is not mistaken for Ox anymore. Wikshere was in fact originally named Strongshere. Just goes to show. #whingerout
Sell those shitty Bristish core of your’s. They are as useless as they could get.
Doesn t matter what players stay or go as long as Arsene stays we re gonna have more of the same next season, that is a few good games, meltdown and out of the pl race by january…
I’m hoping this is just AW’s usual press routine of talking up his players, because continuing to build around the British core would be complete madness. I realize we need to keep a few token British players around to meet the homegrown quota, but none of these players are close to being any more than squad players if we’re serious about competing for the title. The decision to try and build around this group when Fabregas etc left is what has gotten us into such a mess in the first place. The excuses we make for them are getting ridiculous… Read more »
We’ve tried so hard to get away from the “selling club” image that we can’t even sell average fringe players. No, we don’t need a manager to air those guys out in public.
But for Arsenal players, the only thing that puts your squad place in danger is injury, being over 30 or getting caught smoking in the showers.
Ox actually produced a few quite good games from midfield this season. especially in a mid 3, like the first 45 vs Bayern (probably bad example on the count of the result but still). He’s so much better when he’s more involved, and it looks like he has more edge when he’s more involved in the play, ergo not being played on the wing.
We also have new young players coming through who are home grown and deserve their chance. I’d prefer to give opportunities to Jon Toral and Maitland Niles than keep on with the same shit from Ramsey and Wilshere, who are poster boys for everything that’s wrong with Arsene’s favouritism and who I would love to see sold in the summer. Gibbs unfortunately can’t seem to keep fit, and I don’t think Jenks is good enough, so sadly they should go too. Keep Theo and Ox and replace the others with a couple of youngsters and some top quality players.
Keep them all ffs. All still young, home grown players with their best years ahead of them. With Brexit on the cards, the least we can do is keep our brittish talent core.
If John Stones cost 50 million quid, can only imagine what it would cost to replace these guys with home grown players.
They need to play, And none are good enough for our first eleven.
It’s the same thing, no actual plan just try and shuffle square pegs into round holes.
I do think there’s good players in Ox + Rambo, just I’m not sure we should really be showing anymore patience with them?
theyre either played out of position, or not staying fit enough when they get a run in their actual positions.
Brexit is the elephant in the room. It’s quite likely a quota system will be introduced and the value of homegrown players will go through the roof. Maybe ‘roof’ isn’t the right word when Stones is worth 50m, ‘stratosphere’ would be more appropriate!
They have underachieved for many seasons and the rewards is to keep them ? Thanks Arsene ! He has lost it.
Well that motto is keeping Wenger himself here.
He keeps talking about everyones contract situation and already admit he has decided his future. I know hes going to announce that hes staying but everyday I have a little hope he says he’s not gonna. Like the little hope I have every season that we wont do the same old mistakes.
That’s is Arsenal problem in my opinion: insisting of homemade players for whom we yearly say “The’ll improve”‘ and for whom we’re still waiting… At 30, they’ll still be promising players and we’ll keep them because we trained them and because they are British. No way to improve by being stubborn. Arsène is able to put Özil on the bench to accomodate Wilshere in the team.
See what I dont get is if we want to keep these players so much, then why do we wait till the final year of their contract to offer them a new one??? It’s just baffling, like everything else this club does
Penetrating skills… giggity giggity… goo 🙂
Good skills to have
Who else but Wenger
Kieran Gibbs is a player that represents everything thats wrong with the current Arsenal set up, he is the embodiment of our stagnation and stasis. If he isn’t demanding to leave we should be getting rid of him because he isn’t. 3 Premier league starts at 27 years old is pathetic and we shouldn’t tolerate players who are prepared to spend the prime of the career on the bench and it’s not the mentality we should be cultivating. If a player isn’t deeply unhappy at not playing he isn’t the type of player we should want. The problem is that… Read more »
The think is Wenger don’t let players get down to the last year of their contract before renewing it if you think they are good players.
I like the Ox and hope he stays but I feel he will move on like most players as he wants to play in the champions league and compete for trophies he won’t do that at arsenal.
Hope you stay Ox but good luck if you move on.
I disagree. Ox has shown signs of form, but then again a player improving as his contract runs out is not exactly a new thing. In between he has been poor, inconsistent and has hardly set the football world on fire. The same is true of all those players. Gibbs is not particularly high level, Ramsay still lives off that one good 3/4th of a season years ago. Wilshire has also failed to impress. If he was as good as people think he is, then he would be at Arsenal helping the team win the two big trophies, instead of… Read more »
The Ox yes. But Jack? I injury prone. Gibbs? At 27yrs + should be more assured. Walcott? Granted putting them away but we need a more nuanced player now. Ramsey I feel is blowing hot and cold because he is in an unsettled position. Frankly feel he still has potential but should be in the Ozil role. We still have Chambers which I would try one more season reverting to his original role as a Rback. And Holding who has good potential. Plus Welbeck. So if we keep Welbeck Ox, Ramsey, Chambers and Holding, we have a decent enough British… Read more »