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Why Arsenal fans should be excited by Oxo kid

By 2011/09/07 26 Comments

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The signing of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton this summer was met acrimoniously by many sectors of the Emirates faithful. Over the international break, Chamberlain went some way to justifying the money that Arsene Wenger paid for the talented teen and giving Arsenal fans a taste of what is to come.

Our young winger started the fixture against Azerbaijan on the right wing and contributed 2 assists in the 6-0 win, a game in which another Arsenal youngster, Henri Lansbury, stole the headlines by plundering 2 goals and 2 assists from midfield and earning himself the Man of the Match award.

However, it was Oxlade-Chamberlain’s turn to shine against Israel on Monday evening at Oakwell. Coming from the bench, the young midfielder set up all four goals as England came from behind to beat Israel 4-1. Chamberlain showed pace, trickery, power and awareness in his second-half display and perhaps gave Arsenal fans an insight in to why the club reportedly parted with £15 million for the youngster.

In Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsene has a young player with the pace of Theo Walcott, but with all of the awareness and determination that has been displayed by the likes of Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong. He is so much more than a pacey winger, with the ability to play the ‘No. 10’ role behind a striker, or even a deeper centre midfield role, with the ability to spray passes long or short and the power to drive past defenders from deep. A frightening prospect.

As a former Southampton employee and avid Arsenal fan, I have watched Chamberlain’s rise with interest. It is safe to say that as a 17 year-old, contributing either a goal or an assist in every other game in his first full season, is an impressive stat to say the least. The comparisons with Theo Walcott are natural, but in truth, Chamberlain is a more complete player at a young age, who boasts fantastic decision-making for a youngster, a trait that Arsene Wenger really values in his young professionals.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is undoubtedly a fantastic prospect for both Arsenal and England. So much so, that I’ve got £20 riding on the bet that he will become a full international by this time next year. Arsenal fans should be looking forward to the Carling Cup tie with Shrewsbury, in which Alex is sure to feature among other fringe players. I implore those acrimonious Arsenal fans to delay verdict on our youngest summer signing; he will prove that he is worth more than Arsenal’s reported transfer fee. I understand fan’s discontent at not making other areas of the first team a priority, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain falls under the category of players that the club really didn’t want to miss out on…and it’s not the kids fault he isn’t a 6’4” centre half.

STEPHEN PYKE

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  • Bigsyisback

    My cousin is a Saints fan and lives down in Andover and reckons this kid is better than Walcott and Bale put together..you may have a superstar on your hands !

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  • Alex

    Watched his personal highlight against Israel and I was very impressed. Would love to see him in attack with Gervinho, Van Persie and Walcott. I think that would be a terrifying prospect for whoever we play.

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  • Rick

    Well done 

    It’s so refreshing to hear a Gooner with something positive to say. I totally agree with you. I hope he gets the same amount of chances as Theo has had. We know what isn’t working at Arsenal, ( Diaby Squillaci Arshavin etc ) Time to see what the young talent and new boys can do ?????? We have paid for them, now let’s see what the have got !!!!!!!!! 

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  • Letissier7

    Saints would not have sold him for 15 million. He  pushed for a transfer, so we had no choice. Great prospect for you guys .

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  • http://twitter.com/SteveJPyke Stephen Pyke

    Cheers Rick, it’s not all doom and gloom as long as we can keep attracting or developing young talents like AOC.

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  • Davi

    I agree with the comment on his extra awareness. I don’t see him as an amazingly talented dribbler, but he seems to know when to run at a defender and when not to. He knows how to make better use of his pace, but he has plenty more in his locker, and can pick a pass.

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  • Chris Gordon

    He is undoubtedly an amazing talent (I followed him through the youth team before watching him play first-team football for Saints) but he represents a panic buy from Wenger as he is a luxury, not a necessity. And the reason why is context: as you point out he’s not the 6ft 4in centre-half you need. Niether is he the the two central midfielders you need, he’s not the leader (Wilshere and Ramsey will be) you need, he’s not the centre-half you need and, arguably, he’s not the finisher you need. In fact, he’s barely going to be a first-team player for at least a season. Had you have had Arsenal squads of the past he would have been a good buy, even at the reported £12-£15m, but the reality is this is one of the weakest Arsenal squads in some time, the 8-2 drubbing at United shows there’s a lack of depth, and has been heading that way for a few years.

    A great player, I wish him well – I think he should have stayed for another year, but I can understand why he left… That said he was quoted as saying he wanted to follow in Walcott’s footsteps, which presumably means he wants to spend years warming a bench, suffering myriad injuries and, generally, going backwards.I would also not be too happy if I was a Gooner with the arrivals of Arteta and Benayoun. Arteta is also a panic buy: he’s good but that’s it and his injury record isn’t exactly great. I imagine far from being annoyed, Everton fans must be rubbing their hands at £10m. Similarly, a chant for the Saints faithful this season is “£15m, you’re having a laugh” – especially as Lallana is the far more complete player, he just doesn’t have the eye-catching speed of Oxo.

    Despite Wenger’s many talents and the positive things he has done for your club and, indeed, English football, he has some very obvious weaknesses: generally speaking, he can’t buy defenders, finishers (Van Persie and Henry aside) and is blinded by speed.

    On the plus side Mertersacker is useful and I think you did the right thing with Cahill, which is presumably wait till he is out of contract, at the end of this season, I believe. Bad move by Bolton, that.

    I really think the top six could be beyond you this year, especially with the unfortunate loss of Wilshere, a wonderful player by the way. With him, Ramsey, Walcott and Chamberlain the future is bright – but it’s some way off, even further off is Arsene doesn’t address the glaring areas you need to improve..

    Compare and contrast the continual evolution of United with the stop-start nature of Arsenal’s transitions, and it’s no secret as to why one of those clubs has been much more successful over a prolonged period of time.

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    • Mikeoldie

      Mr Gordon, what’s your business with an Arsenal blog? You are the loser , not us.Take your pessimism elsewhere .

      Mikeoldie

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      • Anonymous

        Mikeoldie,

        Even numpties are allowed to voice their opinions.

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    • MikeB

      ‘Compare and contrast the continual evolution of United???????

      What a load of pretentious crap!

      Compare and contrast the continuing spending of United, and you might be some way to understanding the difference… Every time Wenger goes for a defender, people with no fiscal responsibility whatsoever outbid him.

      United, Chelsea, City… All in debt up to their eyeballs and all continuing to rack up debt like it’s going out of fashion… Wenger can’t get into a bidding war with any of them, and has no wish to.

      The only difference between now and when Ferguson was spending 30 mil on Ferdinand is that now there are three clubs buying silverware… So be it, but don’t give us this holier-than-thou hypocrisy about Wenger not buying the right players.

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      • Anonymous

        Look at the financial reports of Arsenal and Man Utd and tell me why man utd can have over £540 million of debt being paid back with interest payments of £56 million a year and turnover of about £330 million, have a wage bill of 10′s of million more than Arsenal and can still afford to spend so much rebuilding every year and Arsenal can’t.

        For the record Arsenal have total debt of about £370 million, turnover (without property sales which are one offs) of about £250 million (projected to rise to about £300 million in the next 3 to 4 years), interest payments of £16 million a year (plus £5 million capital repayments), and a wage bill of £110 million (probably rising to about £150 million as turnover s increases) and yet we apparently cannot make more than one £15 million signing each year.

        Last year the turnover (because of property sales) was over £320 million.

        The numbers don’t add up.

        I agree with you on the general point about man utd buying the title but my point is that looking at the figures, Arsenal have loads more money than the amount they are prepared to spend and both in the short term and long term, are in a better financial position than both Utd and Liverpool yet they still spend  so much more on transfer fees than we do. Read the financial reports and tell me why Arsenal doesn’t have the money!

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    • http://twitter.com/SteveJPyke Stephen Pyke

      Some intriguing points, although I’m not sure that the AOC signing impacted upon any of the other signings.  It wasn’t a panic buy considering that we have been in for him for some time.  You can’t predict when a player with the potential of AOC is going to crop up, but when you do you don’t want to miss out on him. 

      I agree Lallana is a more complete player and more important for Saints at the moment. Clinical, outstanding footwork, creativity and awareness, but he is also 5 years older than AOC and he certainly didn’t have the same impact on the first team at 17 years old.

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    • Kayciey

      Ya a sick mathafaka get life

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    • Info Mike the Max

      A great truthful post. To Chris Gordon: How many leaders does a team need. I am feed up with the knockers jumping on the band wagon against our manager, players and our club. I can’t think of a single player at any club who wishes to spend time injured or recovering from injury and I don’t think it inappropriate for a young talent to look up to a former club mate who was sorely missed in last nights England Wales anti climax. I believe that during this transfer window Mr Wenger had a large list of targets that he would have brought in at an agreeable price. Unfortunately as has been reported widely lots of those targets were unachievable for one reason or another, that does not mean that he panic bought just that the players were not his first choice. I fail to see how Arteta, Mertsecker and Oxlade Chamberlain who have all been linked with the club through many transfer windows can be considered panic buys. Moving on to Santos the Brazil left back and Park the Korean skipper I see nothing but logic there. I grant that Benayoun was unexpected but his fall from grace at Chelsea was documented throughout the later stages of last season and his unhappiness there was well documented. However I feel that on form he represents as good an option as Scott Parker who has a far worse injury record.

      I was very worried in the days after Old Trafford and I wish to give credit to Our management for getting some things done that lay down a firm foundation for the rebuild that will come in the next two windows. I remember the nine year drought that finished in 88 during that time we couldn’t even play attractive football. We are far from there and have qualified for Europe’s best competition for the last eleven seasons.

      What’s wrong with arsenal?…… Nothing

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      • Cameronthomas8

        Something is wrong with arsenal just not to the extent some people keep going on about. but i will say this the inside conflict between everyone arsenal is only damaging to the club, when arsenal fans are having ago at the team its something but when all the punters and opposite teams jump on our manager i have a problem we need to stick by our team

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    • Homer

      Douchebag.

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    • Davi

      What a moron. Every signing is apparently a panic buy!? What are you talking about!? If he was an unproven CB who would definitely get game time, you might consider that a panic buy, but as you correctly said, he’s a luxury, we have plenty of players who can play on the wing, if he does it this season, great, if not, there’s always next year – where’s the panic in that!?
      And on his comments on following walcott – the guy has been given every chance at arsenal, and it’s nobody’s fault that he suffered so many injuries. He was never really a bench-warmer, and in fact was played far more than he deserved in the early days.
      And wenger can’t buy defenders (Toure, Campbell, Lauren, Gallas, Sagna, Van bronkhorst, Silvinho, Vermaelen, Koscielny), or finishers (Wiltord, Pires, Eduardo, Adebayor)!?! Where do you get your ideas?!

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    • Angelo1971

      Butthead. Oxo prove this idiot wrong (I’m sure he will).

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      • Biyi

        Angelo1971 what planet are you ? Chris Gordon has made some very obvious comments based on facts, i wouldn’t say i agree to all he said, but surely that is no reason to call him an idiot even if you didn’t like his comments.

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  • chris

    Listen Gooners…. I am a big Saints fan and believe me I wouldn’t swap 10 Walcotts for one OXO. He will be one of the best in the world soon, no doubts about that. Think yourselves very lucky!!

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  • Dan

    When you see Wenger splash out 15m on a player of that age. You know he will be worth it. From what i’ve seen, he’s brilliant.

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  • Anonymous

    Let’s not put too much pressure on a young, inexperienced but undoubtedly talented player.

    He’s not “the next Henry”, he’s not “the next Walcott” nor is he “the next Messiah”, but he might just be the next youngster to burst onto the Arsenal scene.

    Support him for who he is, not for who you hope he is.

    He’s an Arsenal player and as such deserves our whole hearted backing. 

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  • KeV

    As saints fan I can say he’s better than Walcott but not in bales lg,but then if he’s half as good u still have a great player there.all the best for the rest of the season

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  • Randjlongland

    We saints fans did not want to see this one go. Our club had no power to hold him to his contract with his FATHER pushing him to move. We felt another year with us to develope his body and undoubted skills and 15 million would be chicken fee.
    You ARSENAL fans have to understand he is only 17 and a long way off the finished article , but what a little gem he is!!. Ijust hope we have some kind of sell on clause because one day he will be a world record transfer fee.

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  • Froggy

    hi guys i dont comment much but why does everyone go on about the vastly overrated bale…for 1 so great he certainly has less tangible impact (goals & assits) compared to walcott who is bashed and touted ‘unfairly’ as shit…personally i think its unfair…bale is nothing special not an overly great dribbler not as quick as the likes of walcott, lennon etc, but great stamina and crossing…walcott can be inconsistent with his crossing but more often than not it is the midfilders ramsey et al who dont bust a gut to get in the box when they know van persie hangs outside it as he plays the “false 9″ role…sorry for the rant guys just sharing my opinions…p.s i do think bale is a good player just hyped up to much more than he actually is.

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    • Davi

      There’s certainly a lot of truth to what you’re saying. I will say though, imo bale is a much better dribbler than walcott, and better than what I’ve seen of chamberlain in that regard. He is not far from being as quick as theo and he’s miles stronger. 
      Nonetheless, I agree that overall bale has been over-hyped and the theo has been unfairly treated at times. Before last season I was saying theo shouldn’t have been starting games for arsenal, but I don’t think that was unfair; last season, on the other hand, he was much improved, worked extremely hard and scored and created plenty of goals, for which he received little praise. Last year he really proved he has the mentality to go all the way, not just the pace and the skill (which was only shown in VERY brief flashes previously).

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