15 hours ago
5
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has been training with Arsenal since November, has already put his cards on the table
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain recently revealed that he's targeting a move to an English club. The former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder, who's currently a free agent after his contract was terminated by Besiktas in August, has been working with Mikel Arteta's side for a while now as he looks to maintain his fitness.
The Spaniard welcomed Oxlade-Chamberlain back to the Sobha Realty Training Centre with open arms in November, initially playing with the under-21s. The England international, whom the Gunners signed from Southampton for £15million in 2011, was eventually 'promoted' to the senior squad.
In recent weeks, Oxlade-Chamberlain has regularly been spotted training with the first team, but he's yet to find himself a new club. During an appearance on Ben Foster's podcast at the end of last year, the 32-year-old outlined his plan to join an English club.
"It’s a different situation for me to be in," said Oxlade-Chamberlain. "I had it when I came out of Liverpool, and obviously I was a free agent, saw my contract out there.
FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
"I had it for a month or two, but then the season kicked off, and I signed in Turkey, I think 14th of August. So, it wasn’t too long. It wasn’t like now."
Oxlade-Chamberlain continued: "Now is obviously the season’s well and truly underway, and it’s that awkward bit of waiting of like you’re missing out, and you want to be playing, so it’s different.
"It’s a it’s not a nice situation for any footballer to be in. I’m fortunate enough that I’ve put myself in the situation where I can choose what’s best for me and I’ve said no to things.
"There’s more in play now, family, children, be a bit more selective, ultimately, the whole thing is you want to get back playing and going again as soon as possible. There’s obviously stuff you can do to be proactive yourself and maybe find opportunities or let people know you're be open to opportunities.
"But yeah, ultimately you’re sat there, it’s out of your control, right? You’re sat waiting for a call or for a team to decide they need you or that you can bring value. It’s just a lot of waiting around."
When asked if he has received offers, Oxlade-Chamberlain replied: "Yeah, but to be fair, the majority of them have been in Europe, away from home. For me, I did two years away, which I found difficult on a family level.
"I was going six weeks, eight weeks without seeing my son, my missus, mum and dad, they didn’t even get a look in because if I ever come back for a day or two, it would be seeing them, seeing him, that was difficult.
"So, I just knew I don’t want to do that again. I want to be back in England. And it’s just waiting for the right thing to pop up back here, or close enough that that makes sense for a family thing.
"I think once you have children, it changes things. It’s not all just about me now, and completely about football. It needs to suit that as well. I’ve had offers, and I’ve had to say no to them because it wasn’t right for me and for us.
"So then your pool comes down to, you know, you’re saying, I want to be here. Then it’s just waiting for the right thing, the right project, something I can be excited about, to go into and hit the ground running hopefully."
Due to Premier League registration rules, Oxlade-Chamberlain has until February 5 to find a new club. However, if an English top-flight club has not used all of the 25 available spaces for senior players, the deadline is March 26.
Arteta recently lost Mikel Merino to an injury, which could rule him out for the rest of the season. When the Arsenal boss was asked whether he wants to replace the midfielder, he said: "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."
Arteta 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."
English (US) ·