Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

[Neville Kneville]

Thing is it's very difficult for us to judge whether a player is good enough because non of us sees what Pep sees in players, he will use a player in a different way to how he has been used before and in ways we could never envisage.

I'll envisage 'fullback' .

 

[Phil1]

I'd happily take Oxlade Chamberlain. Yes there are some questions, he needs to start to avoid these niggly injuries he picks up, and show a little more consistency, but I'd add him to the squad and sell Navas and be happy with the end result. Home grown, not 23 until the start of next season, 5 years of Premier League experience under his belt, width and pace, he'd be a great player to rotate in the squad. I'd be happier with a price in the £25m bracket, but it's Arsenal and there's the "English premium" to factor in, so you could be looking at £35m or maybe more. Ultimately though, as long as the money men believe it's financially sound business then I'm not too concerned how much he costs. You have to factor in he'll actually retain value better than most given his age so, if the move doesn't work out as we hope, we could recoup a fair amount of our outlay in a few years.

I agree with most of what you say apart from the valuation. If we pay upwards of £35 million or more and he flops then I doubt we'll recoup a great deal. I think we used up all our luck with the Rodwell fee..

 

[BillyShears]

Signing injury prone players is always a risk. Signing one to play in a high intensity Pep side seems madness.

The Ox has always been a high intensity player but I take your point. Not sure what else I can say though. If the club want him and they go after him I'm happy with that. When he's not injured he's a very good player. As I say the money involved in buying him is neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned. I'll leave the accountants to worry about that.

 

[BillyShears]

I'd happily take Oxlade Chamberlain. Yes there are some questions, he needs to start to avoid these niggly injuries he picks up, and show a little more consistency, but I'd add him to the squad and sell Navas and be happy with the end result. Home grown, not 23 until the start of next season, 5 years of Premier League experience under his belt, width and pace, he'd be a great player to rotate in the squad. I'd be happier with a price in the £25m bracket, but it's Arsenal and there's the "English premium" to factor in, so you could be looking at £35m or maybe more. Ultimately though, as long as the money men believe it's financially sound business then I'm not too concerned how much he costs. You have to factor in he'll actually retain value better than most given his age so, if the move doesn't work out as we hope, we could recoup a fair amount of our outlay in a few years.

Spot on. Pretty much exactly how I see it. I also think depending on Arsenal's stance we might be surprised at the fee as well. Anyway you win some you lose some when it comes to what players cost. If we get Gundogan for 23 million that's literally stupid cheap. That kid would be worth at least 40/50 in the open market if his contract didn't only have a year to run!

 

[andyhinch]

The Ox has always been a high intensity player but I take your point. Not sure what else I can say though. If the club want him and they go after him I'm happy with that. When he's not injured he's a very good player. As I say the money involved in buying him is neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned. I'll leave the accountants to worry about that.

Where's his contract up to/how much do you think he'd cost? As you say, not my concern but it's always nice to have an idea

 

[BlueKlaude]

I agree with City_Sean here on that he is massively overrated and thats from a very average peak.

 

[mancity dan]

Meh

 

[OrigamiNinja]

The Ox's injury record isn't the main concern, the fact he is no good is. Absolute headless chicken that hasn't progressed at all at Arsenal. Spunking £30m+ on this fella is not the way to go.

 

[BillyShears]

Where's his contract up to/how much do you think he'd cost? As you say, not my concern but it's always nice to have an idea

Two years to run. So money time for Arsenal he either sings up or they let him go dirt cheap a year from now. I reckon it'll be 30 million tops. But as Matty says maybe Arsenal will play hardball and the English premium will drive the price up a little.

 

[waspish]

If we are truly going for the Ox it must be because he's English and has plenty of experience in the premier/Europe. Otherwise I just don't understand why they just don't use one of our homegrown youth player.