Celtic have made their moveplaceholder image
Celtic have made their move | Getty Images
Arsenal will miss out on an opportunity to replace one of their injured stars on the cheap.
Arsenal will lose the opportunity to sign a free agent they have been linked with over recent weeks. The Gunners had a quiet January transfer window, deciding not to strengthen their alread ultra-strong squad, and it’s a squad that has depth much of the league is envious of.
Despite that depth, it will have been a big concern for Mikel Arteta when Mikel Merino picked up an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season.
The Spanish midfielder has provided some important goals for Arsenal, as well as being a very good midfielder, and the loss will be keenly felt. It was for that reason Arsenal were linked with the signing of a new midfielder, and the obvious solution, or at least the obvious make-do solution was to sign former midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has been training with Arsenal to keep fit.
Asked if Arsenal were considering that move on deadline day, Arteta responded: “Of course, when you lose a big player like this in the squad with four months to go and all the competitions to play for, you need to look and we need to do everything that we possibly can to see if we have a player that is available. If we don't, we keep what we have.”
He added: “At this level, especially for four months, you have to be a player who has the capacity to adapt immediately and impact the team, and that's not easy. But if it was easy, we wouldn't be here. So we need to find solutions and try.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain certainly isn’t Merino standard, though, and there would be questions over whether the 32-year-old would play at all. And at this stage of his career, the veteran may well want to go somewhere where he can play, and that seems to be the case.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is now set to join Celtic, according to Fabrizio Romano, who posted on X: “Celtic are closing in on Axel Oxlade Chamberlain on free transfer, all set to be completed on Friday. Six months contract agreed with former Liverpool player.”
Celtic are currently six point soff top in the Scottish Premier League, albeit with a game in-hand. The Bhoys have Martin O’Neil as their interim manager until the end of the season.
Oxlade-Chamberlain hasn’t played since August when he left Besiktas after a near two-year spell with the Turkish club.
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