Once a rising star at Arsenal, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain‘s journey from the Gunners to Liverpool has been marred by injury and unfulfilled potential.

His Anfield career, although dotted with moments of brilliance, has been largely characterised by his frequent absences due to injuries.

• Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s transition from Arsenal to Liverpool marked by injury struggles and unmet potential.
• Despite a promising start, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Liverpool career was hampered by a cruciate ligament injury during the 2018 Champions League semi-finals.
• Liverpool’s significant investment in Oxlade-Chamberlain, alongside Naby Keita, failed to bring the desired returns, influencing their transfer strategy.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s transfer from Arsenal was filled with promise.

The versatile midfielder’s dynamic style was meant to add an extra dimension to Liverpool’s game. However, his time at Anfield can be split into two distinct phases, both marked by contrasting fortunes.

Initially, Oxlade-Chamberlain showed great promise, dazzling the Anfield crowd with his dynamism and attacking prowess.

However, a cruciate ligament injury against Roma in the 2018 Champions League semi-finals halted his progression. Despite a commendable 2019-20 season, Oxlade-Chamberlain struggled to recapture the form that made him such an exciting prospect at Arsenal.

This underwhelming return from a sizeable investment—Oxlade-Chamberlain alongside Naby Keita cost Liverpool a combined £87m—highlights the risk inherent in football transfers.

The pair, who were expected to represent the future of Liverpool’s midfield, will leave the club on free transfers this summer.

Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp had praised Oxlade-Chamberlain’s potential, yet the club’s decision not to extend his contract signifies a recognition of a failed experiment.

Klopp’s eloquent compliments for the departing player highlight the melancholic reality of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s time at Liverpool.

Liverpool’s experience with Oxlade-Chamberlain carries significant lessons for their future transfer strategy. The club doesn’t have the financial clout to match Manchester clubs in the transfer market, meaning their major signings, like at Arsenal, must provide value.

The club’s future strategy will be influenced by their experience with Oxlade-Chamberlain.

As they look to rebuild, Liverpool will likely aim to recruit midfielders who can guarantee availability—a quality that was often lacking in Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Anfield career.

This shouldn’t have come as a surprise to them if they’d paid any attention to his time at Arsenal. 

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s journey, from Arsenal to Liverpool, serves as a poignant reminder of the precarious nature of football careers.

While his departure is tinged with regret for unmet potential, the hope remains that the next phase of his career can fulfil the promise he showed at Arsenal.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s injury-plagued time at Arsenal

During the six years he was at Arsenal, The Ox suffered 11 different injuries, ruling him out of a total of 154 games.

In his last four seasons at Arsenal, he suffered four serious knee injuries alone that kept him out for 308 days.

After The Ox moved to Liverpool, we heard a lot about how he hadn’t been given a proper chance at Arsenal, that he was not played enough nor given enough minutes and that he had blossomed since moving north to work under Jurgen Klopp.

Three goals and seven assists in 32 league appearances (1,483 minutes) for Liverpool in his first season didn’t seem to me to be a much better return than the two goals and seven assists he got with Arsenal the season before in 1,562 minutes. But what do I know, eh?

As I wrote in 2018, The Ox had a history of knee problems. Arsenal wanted to see if he recovered from the two major two knee injuries that ruined 2016 for the player before throwing hundreds of thousands per week. That was prudent, as I said it was at the time.

Now it seems smart.

The Ox’s camp were said to be unhappy with how Arsenal handled contract negotiations however I’m sure Arsenal were frustrated that the forward missed what amounted to four full seasons in just six years because of injury.