As I was watching Newcastle v West Ham on Saturday, for some reason, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain popped into my head. What’s he up to, I wondered? So off I went to check.

Playing out in Turkey for Besiktas, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain left England in the summer when his contract with Liverpool expired. Surely he was tearing things up out there? Well, yes, but not in the way he would have liked.

Looking at his stats, I saw that Oxlade-Chamberlain only had four goals and one assist in 22 appearances for Besiktas this season. That seemed a bit rubbish, so I investigated further. Sadly, for The Ox, he has still not been able to shake off the injury problems that plagued his time at both Arsenal and Liverpool.

Just before Christmas the 30-year-old tore his thigh muscle and hasn’t played since, missing 17 matches. It seems his season is over, as he’s not expected back until the start of June.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s transfer from Arsenal to Liverpool 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 attacking ability.

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

It was an underwhelming return from a sizeable investment—Oxlade-Chamberlain alongside Naby Keita cost Liverpool a combined £87m.

The pair, who were expected to represent the future of Liverpool’s midfield, both left the club on free transfers during the summer.

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

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

Oxlade-Chamberlain’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.