Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has rejected a contract offer from Arsenal according to a report in Sunday’s Times [£].
Despite reports previously that the club and player had found an agreement, the Times are now reporting that he is prepared to see out the remaining 12 months of his contract which strikes me as a bit of a bitch move from the Ox if true.
This is a player who has been plagued by injuries. By my count, he has missed the equivalent of almost two full seasons out of the six he’s been at Arsenal. Last season was his best in terms of fitness, missing only five games/17 days with a hamstring problem towards the end of the campaign.
The season before he missed a total of 19 games, and it’s understandable that Arsenal wanted to wait to see how his knees held up after a series of problems.
In total, he has missed 72 games over three seasons because of injury.
The Ox featured in 44 games for Arsenal last season, 11 more than the season before, 7 more than 14/15, and more than double the number he played in 13/14.
Of those 44, 26 were starts.
What more does he want?
Assurances that he will start every game, it seems…which is not something many players on the planet are afforded.
Liverpool have been heavily linked with the player which seems to have turned his head which is a shame.
Nothing indicates that he would be able to nail down a place there any more than he can at Arsenal – injuries, after all, don’t care what club you’re at.