Arsenal will evoke memories of their ill-fated bid for Luis Suarez by telling Liverpool to pay £40million plus £1 if they want to sign Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, according to The Sun.
The England winger is reported to have told Arsene Wenger he is keen to seek a fresh challenge having rejected Arsenal’s latest contract offer of £180,000-a-week.
Like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, Oxlade-Chamberlain has entered the final 12 months of his current deal and Wenger must now decide whether to sanction his sale and spark a bidding war between two Premier League rivals, Chelsea and Liverpool, or risk the 24-year-old leaving on a free next summer.
Arsenal attempted to prise Luis Suarez from Anfield in the summer of 2013 and believed they had activated a release clause in the Uruguayan’s contract, having bid just a solitary pound over the £40m mark.
The offer, viewed as derisory by senior Liverpool figures, prompted owner John W Henry to ask on Twitter ‘what are they smoking at the Emirates.’
But the Gunners will, according to reports, insist on Jurgen Klopp’s side paying that sum if they wish to beat the Premier League champions to the 24-year-old’s services.
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