Arsenal: time for the Gunners to sell Oxlade-Chamberlain
Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is “devastated”. His club manager, Arsene Wenger, says the midfielder “could miss SEVEN WEEKS” of the season, reports the Mirror. The Arsenal fans won’t miss him.
Before we look at the player’s future, let’s hear what Wenger actually said:
“His injury is quite serious and keeps him out for a few weeks. He is consulting a specialist at the moment because he is injured at his knee. Hopefully we will have good news. He is out for a few weeks. How long exactly? I don’t know but a few weeks.
So, “could miss seven weeks”, could be ‘could be back in two weeks”.
“It’s a new injury. He has been cut in two by Mascherano and he did his knee. It was a fully committed tackle but it didn’t look malicious. We have to see how big the damage is in his knee. Hopefully we will have good news later.”
Will Arsenal fans miss the England player who signed from Southampton five years ago? Not much. There’s something very middle-class about the way Oxlade-Chamberlain plays. He never fully dives in, drives forward or does the tough, rough stuff. It’s all a bit nice. The player’s injury was a result of mis-controlling the ball when an Arsenal break was very much on. That he did not then give the Barcelona enforcer a dose of his own aggression to win the tackle further emphasised his weakness.
And now ‘the Ox’ is on his way out of the Emirates. The Indy says Arsenal are “ready to listen to offers for England international midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this summer as it is thought he has not made enough progress during his five seasons at the Emirates.”
He hasn’t made enough progress. That much is certain.
Arsène Wenger paid £12m to Southampton in 2011 for the then 17-year-old, who has made 149 senior appearances for the club, during which time he has broken into Roy Hodgson’s England team. But Wenger fears that Oxlade-Chamberlain has not developed as he first hoped, and if the club can make more than their money back this summer then they would be open to selling him.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is intelligent and skilful. But at Arsenal he’s a work in progress, a player for the future. For five years Arsenal have waited for him to step up. It’s surely time for him to move on…
Posted: 27th, February 2016 | In: Arsenal, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
