In little over two weeks, a number of Liverpool’s soon-to-be out of contract stars will have entered the final six months of their deals and be left free to discuss terms with overseas clubs.
Plenty has been said about Roberto Firmino and Naby Keita ’s futures, with reports suggesting the Brazilian could be offered a new deal while the Guinean, following an injury-wrecked first half of the season, is facing a make or break six months if he wishes to stay at Anfield. Meanwhile, decisions regarding veterans James Milner and Adrian will perhaps again be left until the summer.
But it has just been assumed that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be departing on a Bosman transfer come the end of the season when his own deal expires. In truth, anything else at this point would be a surprise.
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The England international has been unlucky with serious injury during his six seasons at Anfield. While he might have won every major honour going with the Merseysiders, he has been limited to 137 appearances as a result.
And, like the likes of Adam Lallana before him, he has found the Liverpool side he returned to to be a much more formidable prospect than the one he had previously been torn away from. That’s what signing the likes of Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara will do. In truth, the Reds have simply outgrown him.
One of the reasons for Oxlade-Chamberlain departing Arsenal for Anfield back in 2017 was his desire to be playing as a central-midfielder. Once up to speed with Klopp’s wants and desires, that role is where he thrived in his early days with Liverpool before that untimely ACL injury against Roma in the Champions League semi-finals.
Even when he returned to the peak of his powers as the Reds ended their 30-year drought to be champions of England, he still caught the eye in that role. But a knee injury in the summer of 2020, followed by a hamstring injury suffered in Liverpool’s latest pre-season, have left him on the outside looking in. Now as a result, he is way down the pecking order when it comes to lining up in the Reds’ engine room, as demonstrated by the fact even when free of injury last year, he didn’t play after the FA Cup clash with Nottingham Forest at the end of March.
Yet Oxlade-Chamberlain can ensure that if this is indeed the final six months of his Liverpool career, he doesn’t spend it as just a spectator. His versatility, alongside those damned long-term injuries suffered by Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz, ensure the door could remain open to him in the weeks and months ahead.
Having come on as a left-winger against Lyon, before switching upfront, it was the 29-year-old’s turn to start in such a role against AC Milan on Friday in the absence of the aforementioned wide forwards. The only change from the starting XI that lined up against the Ligue 1 side, he was lively in his hour on the pitch.
Linking up well with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino in attack, he played in the Egyptian with a smart backheel early on before dragging a shot wide from the edge of the box. Despite an unmarked Milner’s frustrated screams aimed at him for not passing him the ball, it was a throwback to the Oxlade-Chamberlain Kopites remember at the peak of his powers. He is, after all, arguably still the Reds’ best attacking midfielder.
Meanwhile, he’d hold the ball up well in the box before laying it off to Thiago as the Spaniard shot narrowly wide with his first sight of goal, before heading straight at Antonio Mirante from an Andy Robertson looping header across goal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has perhaps become a source of the online Kopite community’s frustration in recent years. How he remains a Liverpool player, despite his injury woes, and fills a spot that could be occupied by a new midfielder or attacker who takes the Reds forward, such is that constant desire for transfers.
But he has been a good servant to the club and is a popular player at Anfield, like Lallana before him. He’ll have been more frustrated than anyone by the injuries that have cursed him and limited him to this bit-part role. If he can now stay fit, there will be a final chapter in his Liverpool story.
The majority of his Reds game-time might have come in central-midfield but, as things stand, he is currently Liverpool’s fourth choice senior forward in the absence of Diaz and Jota. Capable of playing anywhere across the front three, it might not be his favoured role but this is his best chance of game-time during the second half of the season.
With AC Milan the opponents on Friday, there was inevitably plenty of talk of former Red Divock Origi prior to the game. Alas, the Belgian wouldn’t feature but he can perhaps offer inspiration to Oxlade-Chamberlain.
He did of course have one foot out of the door himself in the summer of 2018, and had only made one appearance that season prior to his famous last-minute winner against Everton come December. Heading towards the final six months of his contract, he seemed certain to depart on a Bosman.
The rest, as they say, is history. Huge Champions League goals would follow as he cemented his place as an Anfield hero, and, with a winner’s medal around his neck in Madrid, a new deal would follow.
Granted, it would be a turn up for the books if Oxlade-Chamberlain followed in such footsteps. He could score the goals to win the Champions League, and it would still be highly unlikely to earn him a new deal. But he can still finish his Liverpool career on his own terms.
Injuries to Diaz and Jota have opened the door. Now it is up to the England international to walk through it, into Klopp's starting XI, as he looks to depart Anfield a hero.
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