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Leeds is keen on securing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's signature after the former England star became a free agent.
The 32-year-old, once of Liverpool and Arsenal, saw his contract terminated with Turkish outfit Besiktas in August. He was initially contracted until 2026, but Besiktas paid him around $2 million to conclude his arrangement prematurely.
As an unattached player, Oxlade-Chamberlain can be recruited outside the transfer window, which concluded earlier this week. The Premier League champion is understood to be eager for a return to English soccer, with Leeds among the clubs expressing interest, though the Whites encounter rivalry from Championship outfit Birmingham City.
Transfer correspondent Pete O'Rourke told Football Insider that "a number of clubs" have been looking at Oxlade-Chamberlain.
O'Rourke claims that Leeds and Birmingham are two of the teams interested in Oxlade-Chamberlain. If the midfielder joins Leeds, he will face his ex-club Liverpool twice in January.
O'Rourke believes Oxlade-Chamberlain is "ready to return to England after a couple of years away" and expects "some movement on his future soon."
Leeds and Birmingham would avoid any transfer fee, with the former Liverpool player currently without a club.
The primary worry would be his salary. It's reported that Oxlade-Chamberlain was pocketing £65,000 ($87,000) weekly in Turkey.
Oxlade-Chamberlain won several trophies as a Liverpool player, most notably the Premier League and Champions League.
Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was a big fan of the player during his time on Merseyside.
"Ox is a super guy, an absolutely super guy," said Klopp after Oxlade-Chamberlain left Anfield in 2023.
"Now with Ox it’s a bigger shame, how it sometimes is with players – he had here super times and now in the end I’m pretty sure he is not 100 percent happy and I can understand that, definitely.
"But the one moment that comes in my mind... is the situation in the Roma semifinal, the home game when he got injured (in 2018).
"In that moment, I had no idea how to replace him, honestly – Ox was that good.
"It was everything: he came here, had played from time to time at wing-back at Arsenal, winger for sure, and he became a proper No.8 here in the way we wanted to play – super-energetic, technically outstanding."
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