Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed that he plans to stay at Arsenal next season amid rumours that Liverpool are interested in signing him.
- Ox’s contract runs out June 2018
- Claims he wants to stay at Arsenal for final year
- Getting more game time
- Aims to get into England World Cup 2018 squad
The Ox recently spoke with Complex about his plans for the future, which include playing well for Arsenal and staying as close to the England team as possible.
“My personal ambitions are always to play as well as I can and be as professional as I can for Arsenal and obviously stay in and around the England squad as well,” he explained when asked what the future held for him beyond this season.
“That’s no easy feat, we’ve got a lot of good, young players coming through at the moment and competition for places is high, and with the World Cup coming up next year that’ll be in the back of everyone’s mind.
“For me as an attacker it’s scoring and creating goals and helping the team to win, so I’ll just be focused on doing that as well as I can for my club, and then from an England point of view keep pushing to be in and around that squad, and hopefully go to the World Cup and help us achieve something special.”
The 23-year-old, who claims that Hector Bellerin is the “main man” in the squad when it comes to fashion and having the best Instagram, has been linked with a move to Liverpool recently with Jurgen Klopp reportedly being a long-time fan.
His current deal runs at the end of next season and although Arsene Wenger has insisted that Arsenal wants to keep him, he’s previously been said to be on the look for more playing time.
Fortunately, the England international has been getting some serious minutes under his belt during the latter stages of this season, which will please him since, back in October, he said this was paramount if he was to choose to stay at the club.
“Personally, I’ve been on a good run of performing and game time and I think I’ve played quite a lot this year,” the Ox said. “So it’s just to finish the season this year as strong as possible and help the team to get as many wins as we can.
“Obviously it’s really tight in and around the top four. We’ve got the semi-final of the cup to come and hopefully a final, and that would be nice to win again. It’s not gonna be easy, but we’re up for the challenge.”
The 23-year-old, who insists that he doesn’t get too “wrapped up” in social media these days (“Everyone has their opinion and everyone’s opinion is different so you’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt.”), seems to have a good head on his shoulders and doesn’t appear to want to leave north London any time soon.