Arsenal’s mind-boggling inaction on both the pitch and in the transfer market have seriously tested the patience of their already volatile fanbase this week, but the deadline day sale of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Liverpool should be the least of their worries.

To be fair on Gooners, they’ve had a rough time of late, with back-to-back Premier League defeats already making it look a very poor decision indeed to hand Arsene Wenger a new contract, especially with only Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac brought in so far.

The 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday shows that defenders and defensive midfielders are badly needed at Arsenal, as well as that frequently-mentioned missing ingredient at the Emirates Stadium: leadership.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has left Arsenal for Liverpool (Picture: Getty)

If not for the already dire situation at the club, the departure of an injury-prone jack-of-all-trades squad player, even to a major rival, would likely not be met with as much derision as it has been. As it is, it’s a noticeable enough sprinkle of salt into an already gaping wound.

Still, for some perspective, here’s five reasons Arsenal fans shouldn’t get too worked up about this latest player sale…

He’s made next to no progress in six years

Let’s face facts: the Ox arrived at Arsenal as a fresh-faced teenager all the way back in 2011 and has barely improved since then.

Oxlade-Chamberlain never kicked on since joining Arsenal in 2011 (Picture: Getty)

Injuries have no doubt played their part in that stalled development, but the player himself can only dodge the blame for so long; he made 198 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners, and an average of 21 Premier League games a season.

Although mostly used as a wing-back now, the England international spent the bulk of his time in north London playing as an attacking midfielder or wide-forward, and yet he’s never scored more than two league goals a season. He has 20 goals in total in his Arsenal career, six of which came last season, his highest scoring campaign.

Slightly fortuitous to still be seen as a bright young prospect at the age of 24 and with 268 games for club and country under his belt, most top clubs that don’t reward mediocrity like Arsenal would probably be looking to get rid by now anyway.

Ox PL appearances/goals by season

2011/12 – 16(1)

2012/13 – 25(1)

2013/14 – 14(2)

2014/15 – 23 (1)

2015/16 – 22 (1)

2016/17 – 29 (2)

He’s not first choice in any position

Will Arsenal really miss the England international? (Picture: Getty)

Six full seasons at Arsenal and he’s yet to nail down any regular position – that can’t be anything but a bad sign for a player with no obviously stand-out skills in his locker.

Not good enough defensively to be trusted at wing-back or central midfield in every game, and with not nearly enough end product to play further forward, Oxlade-Chamberlain has to take the blame for failing to convince Wenger he can be the player he’s so long been talked up as.

The former Southampton prodigy is known to favour a central midfield spot, but if he couldn’t Wenger he’s a superior option there to Granit Xhaka, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey or Mohamed Elneny then that’s a pretty damning verdict from the Arsenal boss.

Liverpool are unlikely to be strengthened by his arrival

Arsenal fans crying out about ‘strengthening a rival’ should surely see that that won’t really be the reality of the Ox’s move to Anfield.

Will the Ox even be first choice at Liverpool? (Picture: Getty)
Will the Ox even be first choice at Liverpool? (Picture: Getty)

You may have noticed that Liverpool already have pretty great options out wide and in attacking midfield. Even without Philippe Coutinho, their front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah made easy work of them at the weekend.

Elsewhere, Oxlade-Chamberlain also has to get past the likes of Emre Can, Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, and when he’s fit again, Adam Lallana, in central midfield.

With Coutinho’s departure to Barcelona, there’s no doubt that the Reds are weaker in that part of the pitch as a result of both deals, so there should be little to seriously worry Gooners there.

Arsenal got a very decent price

Arsenal did well to get £40million for a squad player (Picture: Reuters)

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s final fee was £40million. For a basically average player in the final year of his contract, who cost Arsenal £12m from Southampton, that’s really not too shabby.

In this market it might not seem much, but it’s perfectly easy to imagine that, one underwhelming year later, Liverpool could be flogging him to Stoke or Bournemouth for half that.

Being out of the Champions League and passing up a sizeable transfer fee for Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal know that sales need to be made, so all things considered this seems a sensible way to help balance the books.

 

There are undoubtedly hard times ahead for Arsenal this season, but this looks more like some rash spending by Liverpool than anything more dramatic. For all the potential that Oxlade-Chamberlain might fulfil if he stays fit, if he finds a system he fits into better, these are all hypotheticals. Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie, he ain’t.

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