Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could be on his way from Liverpool this summer as Jurgen Klopp looks to reshape his squad and West Ham are leading the pack of interested clubs.
Arsenal sold Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Liverpool for £34.2m in 2017. The Ox has picked up a host of trophies since his move, including a Premier League title and Champions League trophy, but it’s hard to argue that Liverpool got the better end of this deal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain continued to struggle with injury problems at Anfield, picking up two knee injuries, along with a host of other niggles and knocks.
The midfielder didn’t really kick on at Liverpool in the way many expected. His goals and assists ratio was slightly worse than it was at Arsenal, although the difference is nominal – 3.8 vs 4 games per goal/or assist.
A knee injury interrupted the Ox’s season start last campaign but, despite returning to fitness in December, Oxlade-Chamberlain didn’t start a single game. In total, he played just 286 minutes last season, with one goal and one assist to show for it.
With two years remaining on his Liverpool contract, it seems as if they think it could be time to try and claw back some of their investment before it fritters away to nothing.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has a current market value of £16.2m but West Ham, the side most heavily linked with him, will most likely try and take the 27-year-old on loan, according to the Daily Mirror‘s Monday edition, along with a host of other publications.
In a recent friendly, Liverpool played Oxlade-Chamberlain in a ‘false nine’ position, about which Klopp said, “Ox you could see in the first few minutes immediately that it is an option, definitely. We will see how that goes on,” amid talk of a position change for him at the club.
As for the Ox, he’s still apparently hoping to remain at Liverpool and, if he can make an impact in a new position, he could just do that.
The problem, as it always has been for the Ox, is not about his talent, there is no question there. It’s about his body’s willingness to let him compete as a top-level footballer on a regular basis.