West Ham make contact over Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
West Ham want to sign Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this summer, according to Anfield Central.
The online news outlet claims their sources have “learned that West Ham have once again approached the Reds about signing Chamberlain, with David Moyes of the belief he can succeed at the London club.”
This comes a couple of months after the same outlet first reported an approach by the Irons, with the Merseyside club not willing to discuss sales during the season.
However, their stance has now been detailed, with Anfield Central’s report claiming that unless Oxlade-Chamberlain asks to leave, he will remain at Liverpool going into next season with Jurgen Klopp viewing him as an “integral” part of his squad.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is no stranger to the London Stadium after twice scoring there for Liverpool, once in 2017 and again in 2020.
But his star as been on the wane in recent times, as the 35-cap England international has not played for Gareth Southgate’s side since 2019, the same year Paul Merson waxed lyrical about him on Sky Sports’ ‘The Debate’ show [11/11/19], where he called him a “phenomenal player”. [Via Live4Liverpool]
Risk not worth taking
Oxlade-Chamberlain is, without doubt, a fine player who can torment opposition defenders and midfielders at the highest level.
But can he remain injury-free and hit those heights consistently? That’s a matter which is certainly up for debate.
He only made 13 Premier League appearances for Klopp’s side last season, with an injury keeping him on the sidelines for much of the first half of the campaign before he struggled to force his way past the likes of Thiago Alcantara and Georginio Wijnaldum in midfield.
The latter is set to depart Liverpool this summer which will naturally bump Oxlade-Chamberlain up in the pecking order, so there is likely to be strong credence behind Klopp’s reported desire to keep him at the club.
That means that even if he pushes for an exit, Oxlade-Chamberlain is unlikely to come cheap.
We’re supposed to be over the transfer policy of signing fringe players from the top teams, although Jesse Lingard did show there is merit to handing potential match-winners a chance, regardless of current form.
However, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s issues go even further back, as he made just two Premier League appearances in the 2018/19 campaign, owing to an injury suffered in the previous season.
We think he should be one to avoid, and emerging stars should be the profile we look to this summer.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie has slammed a former Premier League manager after he snubbed this ‘Outstanding’ Irons ace for EURO 2020.
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