Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a guest on Goals on Sunday this weekend and when addressing questions about his future he admitted that he could look to move on if he doesn’t get regular football.
Sitting on the sofa with his dad, the winger (he said he’s concentrating on being a winger for Arsenal as we have so many out-and-out central midfielders), the question was put to him about leaving in search of regular minutes, and he replied, “Obviously I’d be lying, I’m not going to sit here and say it’s not crossed my mind that I need a lot more game time.
“As a footballer you want to play every game and me being myself I’m not happy when I’m not playing.
“Everyone who is on the bench is, there is going to come a time in my career, and I think I’m approaching that, when I do need to be getting more regular football but my focus completely and utterly now is on playing for Arsenal and still trying to break into the team when I get the opportunity.
“If I have to come off the bench, do what I did yesterday [v Swansea] where I can come on and make a difference.
“My sole aim for now is to help Arsenal and keep pushing myself to play in the team because I love being at Arsenal, it’s a great club and it’s a great team and I’ve got a lot of faith in the team, so I just want to keep focussing on that.
Me and the old man on Goals On Sunday this morning, thanks for having us! pic.twitter.com/jmd6T1ygD7
— Alex Ox-Chamberlain (@Alex_OxChambo) October 16, 2016
“There is that in my mind, where I do want to get more game time and there comes a time in your career when you’ve got to re-evaluate things and think ‘is that going to be here or elsewhere’ but I’m not there yet.
“I’m fully focused on this season and playing my part and when you get to the end of the season just like managers do, they re-evaluate their team, players re-evaluate their personal situations and I’ll do that at the end of the season and see what’s happening.”
The Ox’s six years at Arsenal have been plagued by injury which have really hindered his development but there is no denying that he has also stalled. Since arriving at the club in 2011, he’s missed 500 days and 74 games through injury. Hip, knee, groin, hamstring and thigh have all featured.
A total of 221 minutes this season in all competitions, including 90 in the EFL Cup against Nottingham Forest, has yielded just one assist (although he could have had two more if Theo had put those chances against Swansea away).