Arsenal was meant to be ‘built around’ my talents – now I’m a free agent at 32placeholder image
Arsenal was meant to be ‘built around’ my talents – now I’m a free agent at 32 | Getty Images
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a free agent after his Besiktas contract was terminated - but what happened, and will he play in England again?
Few English players of this century have been blessed with as much raw talent and innate ability as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – and few have been less fortunate with their health. Now, at the age of just 32, a winger who won 35 caps for his country is without a club, and perhaps without a future in the game.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s contract at Turkish side Besiktas was terminated by mutual consent at the end of August after a frustrating spell in which he made 50 appearances over two seasons but also spent all too much time on the treatment table. It’s a familiar story for a player whose career has never quite hit the heights once promised – but is it the end of the road just yet?
What happened to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?
Oxlade-Chamberlain was only a week shy of his 18th birthday when Arsenal spent £15m to sign him from Southampton, a staggering sum for a teenager at the time but one which seemed only fitting given his self-evident talent.
He was still only 18 when he earned the first of his England caps and established himself in Arsène Wenger’s first team, primarily as a winger, although he would play in almost every position in midfield and attack before too long. He seemed to have a long and immensely successful career laid out in front of him.
Unfortunately for Oxlade-Chamberlain, he was still young – he had only just turned 20 a few days earlier - when he suffered his first major injury, more than four months out with a knee problem. It would set the tone for so much that was to come.
Not only would fitness problems crop up regularly throughout his career, but they also cost him a place at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup – and made Arsenal’s money men think twice about extending his contract in 2017 when he was down to just one year left. Liverpool were prepared to take a chance.
Wenger himself had made it clear that he wanted to keep Oxlade-Chamberlain around: “I want him to stay and be one of the big players of the future of this club. He is one of the players this team has to be built around in the future.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain made the move to Anfield and played a role in some memorable campaigns, winning both the Premier League and Champions League, but was never a player that his club were built around. Instead, he became increasingly peripheral as his inability to stay on the field week in, week out began to bite. Eventually, in 2023, he was released.
Still only 30, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s career had stalled and despite a healthy collection of winners’ medals, there was an unavoidable sense of unfulfilled potential – and it was a sense only strengthen by his move to Besiktas.
The fans in Istanbul never truly took to him, and it isn’t hard to find disparaging comments in response to his premature departure this summer. As is so often the case with players who spend a lot of time nursing injuries, many fans found it hard to discern whether he was unfit or simply not trying. There were flashes of his talent, but they were too few and far between, and now they have cut him loose, paying him a reported €1.7m (£1.5m) just to move on.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is now without a club, a player who won everything but whose career still feels like something of a let-down, albeit through no real fault of his own. But is this the end, or is there one final act left to come?
Could Leeds United or Birmingham City sign Oxlade-Chamberlain?
Although the transfer window has closed, clubs in England can still sign free agents at will and as such, there have been rumours linking the now 32-year-old with a move back to his home country.
The Daily Star claim that Leeds United are “pursuing” an offer as they search for sorely-needed attacking reinforcements, while second-tier Birmingham City were connected with a bid by The Athletic back in August. He may well have options.
It is, hopefully, more than likely that he takes such a chance if it comes, provided that his fitness permits it. Oxlade-Chamberlain was, in his prime, a footballer who undoubtedly loved the game and spoke on occasion about the sense of privilege that he felt in getting to play at the highest level, especially for England.
The chances of a recall seem rather slim – although as Ruben Loftus-Cheek recently discovered, Thomas Tuchel is a manager who keeps the doors to the last chance saloon open at all hours – but perhaps there is still enough of that talent and magic in his boots to provide a few more memorable moments before he calls time on his career.
If this is the end, however, then while it may have been half the career that many pundits expected, it was still filled with twice as much success as most players will ever experience. It’s just a shame that it’s also had twice as many injuries as anyone’s body should ever have to endure.
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