Whilst a lot of the talk regarding Liverpool’s transfer business for the summer is centred around their interest in Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk and RB Leipzig’s Naby Keita, reports linking them with Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain refuse to go away.
It is suggested that Arsenal’s versatile midfielder is not as much of a priority for Liverpool as the other two names mentioned above, but there is every chance that the Reds will move on to pursue Oxlade-Chamberlain later in the window.
By that time, if the situation remains in its current state, Arsenal will be under a huge amount of pressure to sell. Around a fortnight ago, it became apparent that the 23-year-old has rejected a series of contract offers from Arsenal, with his current deal due to expire in a year’s time. There’s no doubt that Arsene Wenger will want the Southampton Academy product to stay put, but I’m not at all surprised that the player is now considering his options.
In 2012, when Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson, Aaron Ramsey and Kieran Gibbs all penned new long-term deals at Arsenal, Wenger stated that ‘a British core’ was to be a big part of his plans going forward.
Five years later, that core has failed to materialise. There was a huge amount of excitement surrounding Theo Walcott’s arrival at the club as a 16-year-old, but he just is another player that has not fulfilled the exciting potential that so many believed he had.
Something that the ‘Ox’ will have become increasingly frustrated with throughout his Arsenal career is Wenger’s constant chopping and changing of his starting XI. A good performance from Oxlade-Chamberlain was not always rewarded with a starting spot in the next game, making it very difficult for him to pick up any sort of rhythm or consistency. Theo Walcott has had the same issue and, as previously mentioned, looks a shadow of the player that many believed he could and should have become.
Many will argue that, at Liverpool, Oxlade-Chamberlain will not be a regular starter, certainly not in his preferred central midfield position, with the club hoping to add £70m rated Naby Keita. But there is so much more to the reasoning behind the players’ supposed temptation to switch London for Merseyside.
In Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool have a manager that is a developer of talent. From Robert Lewandowski and Mario Götze at Borussia Dortmund to the likes of Sadio Mané and Adam Lallana at Liverpool, he has done it throughout his career.
If you want to be a top team in England, you need a squad with a plethora of different options. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team from last season is a perfect example of that. Star performers such as Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva would be in and out of the side every week, but the style and the quality of Guardiola’s management meant that they were able to maintain a good level of consistency when they were called into action.
Challenging to win trophies in every single competition you play in, means having a big squad and changing your team if and when necessary. Wenger rotates his team, but over the last five years, he has shown that he is often unable to get a number of his players performing to a level close to the best of their ability week after week.
At 23 years of age, Oxlade-Chamberlain will be fully aware that the next year or two will go a long way in defining whether or not he fulfils his undoubted potential. Aidy Ward, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s agent and the same one that engineered Raheem Sterling’s move to Manchester City, will have warned his client that he is in danger of becoming another stock-piled British player at Arsenal, rather than one that is given the encouragement and the platform to showcase his qualities every week.
Klopp has proved in his first full season at Liverpool that he is a man with a plan. Every single player in his squad knows what their role is and what’s required to get them into the starting XI each week. With the likes of Adam Lallana, Gini Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson, Klopp has shown that he is willing to try players in different roles to what they’re used to, depending on the qualities that they have.
Lallana, who throughout his career has been viewed as a creative player that is usually deployed in an offensive trio, spent the vast majority of last season in a central midfield role which saw him produce an outstanding season and brought the end product to his game that so many had suggested he was previously lacking.
Wijnaldum, too, was always seen as more of an attacking midfielder, but Klopp has used him as the team’s link-man. At times last season, we saw the Dutchman do things on a football pitch that not many people in England believed he could do after his previous spell at Newcastle. He played a crucial part in Liverpool securing a top-four finish in his first season at the club and improved with every game.
The former Dortmund manager used Jordan Henderson, who was playing by far and away the best football of his career last season before a series of injuries, as the team’s holding midfielder. Prior to that, he had always been seen as a box-to-box midfielder and spent the majority of his early years at Liverpool as an attacking right midfield player.
Klopp has already signalled his intent to increase the influence of Philippe Coutinho in his team by using him in a central midfield position more often next season. Even the likes of Roberto Firmino and James Milner had their roles altered during the last campaign and both were key men for the Reds.
If the Liverpool boss wants Oxlade-Chamberlain in his squad next season, then I can totally understand why the player would be very interested in a move to Anfield. At 23, his best years are ahead of him and he has plenty of time to develop. On paper, he looks to be the ideal Jürgen Klopp player. Power and speed, strong with both feet, able to operate in a number of different positions and, perhaps most importantly for Klopp, a bundle of energy.
Many have played down Liverpool’s apparent interest in Oxlade-Chamberlain and are not convinced that he would be a good addition. That may be down to the fact that he only managed two goals and seven assists in the Premier League last season. I am convinced that you would see much better numbers from Oxlade-Chamberlain under a manager that rewards him for good performances and gives him a set role in the team.
Even if the Reds do decide to pursue Oxlade-Chamberlain this summer, they’re likely to have difficulties agreeing on a price. The London club are said to want at least £25m, a fee Liverpool would probably be reluctant to pay considering his contract is to expire next summer. But this, to me, is a deal that would make perfect sense and I’m extremely confident that, if it did go through, it would be reflected on as an extremely shrewd piece of business from Liverpool.
