Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 'never wanted to leave' Arsenal but broken promise forced exit

Former Arsenal star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has insisted he never wanted to leave north London but was essentially forced out after Arsene Wenger's broken promise

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain claims he never wanted to leave Arsenal but Arsene Wenger's promise to play him in midfield was never fulfilled. The 32-year-old recently trained with his former side before signing for Celtic.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was snapped up by the Gunners as a teenager from Southampton in 2011 and quickly entered first-team contention under Wenger. He would go on to play almost 200 games for the club.

But in the summer of 2017, he made the switch to Liverpool in a £35million deal. Oxlade-Chamberlain now admits this was a difficult choice, but Wenger essentially forced his hand by constantly going back on his word about positioning.

Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, Oxlade-Chamberlain said: "It was a really tough decision for me at the time because there was no part of me that wanted to leave Arsenal.

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"I loved it there and I was really comfortable there. But the overriding thing was I was always told I was going into midfield but it was always, 'Next season. We're going to do it next season.' I was going from the wing and in my head I knew the way the game was shaping up for wingers was to run in behind.

"I spent a season trying to get better at that. I think I remember the season I was doing that, Memphis Depay was really good at getting chances behind and then I had Theo [Walcott], that was his whole game.

"Whereas I'd been brought up as a midfielder, I always wanted the ball to feet so I'd come looking for the ball to stay in the game. If I didn't get a touch I'd kind of fall out of the game. I knew the game was going more stats, goals, assists, numbers. I'm thinking, 'I'm not going to be getting the right numbers here to be talked about.'

"I knew I wanted to be a midfielder. The boss had said I was a midfielder, when he signed me. That was another reason why I went there. He said, 'I can tell you're a centre-mid and I'm going to bring that in but you're going to start as a winger.'

"So that's one of the reasons why I went to Arsenal because he saw that for me as well. But then every year, we had so many good midfielders. I'd play one game in midfield, he couldn't drop me, but he also needs to get Mikel [Arteta] or Aaron Ramsey or Wilsh [Jack Wilshere] or Santi [Cazorla] in.

"I'd then go back to the wing again. So, I never got a consistent run in that position. Then we went to five at the back and I ended up at wingback and I thought, 'Oh no. This is going in the wrong direction here, going backwards.'

"There was also a little element with Arsene. I didn't know how long he was going to stay there and I was kind of his guy and he liked me but at the same time, football moves fast. If he left and I'm at wing-back, do people now see me as a wing-back? Is that my position?

"So I knew getting to 24 years of age, if I don't establish myself in the position I want to be in, I'll kind of just be a guy that can do everything but not anything really well. That was why I thought I needed to leave. It was like head and heart. My head said, 'You've got to go now.'"

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