Former Gunner Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has progressed from training with the Arsenal youth teams to the senior side, as he continues to maintain his fitness at London Colney.
Arsenal’s open training session in front of the media on Tuesday revealed that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still training at London Colney with the club’s academy teams, as he has been on occasion for the last few months.
But during the second part of the session not watched by the media, Oxlade-Chamberlain then spent time working with the first team. He could be seen in photos shared by Arsenal club photographer David Price competing with the likes of Eberechi Eze in a training game.
Arsenal Youth also note that Oxlade-Chamberlain was wearing a kit with ‘T3’, which usually indicates a trialist.
This probably means nothing more than that Oxlade-Chamberlain wanted to step up his training regime by competing against senior opponents, and that Arsenal were willing to facilitate that.
Mikel Arteta has previously spoken about the positive impact Oxlade-Chamberlain is having on Arsenal’s youth players in training, so the 32-year-old has arguably earned this chance to step up for a day.
Yet Oxlade-Chamberlain remains a free agent, and you can never completely rule out Arsenal deciding to sign him up if the need happens to arise. The squad seems to be in a good place right now, but if the versatile winger/midfielder doesn’t find a new club then that option will remain open.
Given the player has been training at Arsenal for months now, the Gunners will have a better idea than anyone else about his readiness for competitive football.
Oxlade-Chamberlain previously explained how he came to be training back at Arsenal, saying: “I spoke to Per. I asked him if it would be possible to come and train with the under-21s, and I explained how I thought I could add value as well by working with the young players.
“Per liked the idea, and then he obviously had to get that signed off internally.”
After Arteta called Oxlade-Chamberlain “one of the best characters I met in football” in a recent press conference, the player admitted he took extra motivation from the comments.
“It was quite humbling and nice to hear, and it makes me even more determined to help them by helping out some of the younger players and sharing my experiences,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is training with Arsenal as a free agent as he searches for a new club, having most recently played for Turkish club Besiktas. He terminated his contract in August, freeing him up to join a new club even after the transfer window closed.
The player has received offers from around Europe since then, but he wants to remain in England with his wife and children.