Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Contract Number One Priority

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has just a year remaining on his contract. More than adding new players or re-signing Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez, he should be Arsenal’s number one priority.

The summer transfer window is looming, and with Arsene Wenger’s future far from clear, there are many decisions that need to be made. Certainly, who the manager of this team will be is a choice that resolves many other issues. He is the most important figure at the club, and how Arsenal are managed, both on and off the pitch, will stem from his principles and his ideals.

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There are also many other decisions that are yet to be made regarding the playing squad, the most talked about of which are the futures of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. The duo have been central to the Gunners’ success of recent years and are perhaps the only players who can be considered as established, world class talents in the squad.

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They have just a year remaining on their current deals from the end of the season, and Wenger has been asked extensively about the state of negotiations and whether he believes a deal will be agreed upon or not. However, amid the furore engulfing Ozil and Sanchez, there has been another player, who also has just one year left on his current deal from the end of the year, that has slipped the net of conversation.

Here is what Wenger said about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain when asked about his recent prosperity in a variety of roles and the importance of signing him to a long-term deal:

"“It will be as well decided in the summer. It’s a big job to do in the summer. You can help us to negotiate some contracts. I think he is one of the players who has developed very well mentally. He is more positive, more confident, more mature. He was sometimes a bit negative with his own performances. And I think on that front he is much better now.”"

Wenger is right when he states that ‘it’s a big job to do in the summer.’ Chamberlain has shown a glimpse of his bright and illustrious future in recent months, shining as a driving, surging central midfield and direct, driving, pacy wide man, both as a more natural winger and at wing-back.

Moreover, he is the perfect vindication of Wenger’s methods. While Sanchez and Ozil, when signed, were already household names, renowned for their skills across the globe, Chamberlain was a fresh-faced 18-year-old. He has been developed and honed thanks to the tutelage of Wenger. To lose someone like that is far more damaging to Wenger’s ideals than an Ozil or Sanchez.

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At just 23 years of age, he still has room to grow and to improve. He could well blossom into a remarkably gifted midfielder, either out wide or centrally. Keeping him in North London is a task of the utmost importance. In fact, he should be the number one priority, more so than either Sanchez or Ozil.