Arsene Wenger suggests Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may have been tapped up by Liverpool: 'You are not naive enough to think it will not happen'

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Arsene Wenger has questioned whether Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was tapped up by Liverpool.

The Arsenal manager said on Thursday it would be naive to think his players are not being tapped up before matches and is unsure whether they were on the day of their 4-0 loss to Liverpool last week.

Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez were among those who featured at Anfield and the former then signed for Liverpool in a £35million move.

Arsene Wenger said it is naive to think players were not being tapped up before matches

Sanchez missed out on his £60m move to Manchester City and is now back at Arsenal following the international break.

‘You are not naive enough to think that will not happen,’ Wenger said. ‘I don’t know (if it happened before the loss to Liverpool). I don’t know.

‘Have they been tapped up? Of course. But on the day of a game? I don’t think so, I hope not. But it’s inevitable.

‘France played against Holland on the last day of the transfer window. Do you really think that not one French player or Dutch player had phone calls in the afternoon about a move or not?

‘I am not naive enough to believe that. That’s why you have to scrap it before the season starts.’

Oxlade-Chamberlain moved to Liverpool from Arsenal for £35million on deadline day

Sanchez’s transfer to City was scuppered as Arsenal missed out on Thomas Lemar, who decided he wanted to stay with Monaco on deadline day.

‘Lemar is now in Monaco and has to focus on Monaco,’ Wenger continued. ‘Sanchez is here and focuses here. Many things happen in the last second, what I regret.

‘That’s why I believe it’s important we close before the championship starts.

‘You sit there before the games and even in players’ minds they have no clarity. Are they in? Are they out? Are they half in? Are they half out?

‘Are they tapped up in the afternoon of the game by people who want to get them out? It’s not the way to work and it’s uncomfortable.

Oxlade-Chamberlain played against Liverpool for Arsenal just four days before joining them

‘Every single manager in the league would agree it’s time to kick that out before the season starts and not continue to have players in the dressing room who are half out and half in.’

Rather optimistically, Wenger is hoping Sanchez has a change of heart and stays next summer on with a renewed contract. ‘There is a chance, yes,’ he said.

Wenger suggested he had to sell Oxlade-Chamberlain to ‘quantify the loss of income’ that is set to hit Arsenal. As it stands, the north London club are in line to lose Sanchez and Mesut Ozil for nothing next summer.

On why Oxlade went to Liverpool, Wenger said: ‘Today in the Premier League, you have 107 players who go to the final year of their contract.

‘In every club, part are players that the clubs do not want to extend, and part are players that the clubs want to extend but don’t agree for financial reasons. And we have both sides.

Alexis Sanchez's Manchester City move fell through when Arsenal failed to sign Thomas Lemar

‘So at some stage that means you have to quantify the loss of income. And at the end of the day, you decide, “OK, we can do it for two or three, but not for four or five”.’

Ozil has come in for criticism from Arsenal legends, such as Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Petit. It prompted the German player to upload a post to social media in retaliation, telling them to shut up and start supporting the club instead.

Wenger has hit back at his Arsenal greats too, as he said: ‘I always have problems understanding what a legend and what a legend isn’t. They had their weaknesses as well. Don’t worry about that.

‘They had their weak games as well, and their weak behaviours. Nobody was perfect.’

Meanwhile, Santi Cazorla tried running for the first time on Thursday. It has been almost a year since Cazorla, 32, last appeared for Arsenal but is aiming to be back around Christmas.