Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still just 31 years old, which feels very young for a man who made his first-team debut for Southampton when Gordon Brown was UK prime minister. It is just over 15 years since Oxlade-Chamberlain broke into Alan Pardew’s Saints squad, aged 16, and after successful and high-profile moves to both Arsenal and Liverpool, plus a trophy haul that includes a Premier League and Champions League title, plus three FA Cups, few can say that Oxlade-Chamberlain has not fulfilled his potential.
Yet his exit from Liverpool at the expiry of his contract in 2023, aged just 29, felt a little hollow. Presented with a photo collage after his final Anfield match and photographed on the pitch alongside his fellow departees, Roberto Firmino (to Saudi Arabia) and 37-year-old James Milner (to Brighton), who were both beaming ear to ear, Oxlade-Chamberlain looked a little lost, diffident almost. Where next?
