Arsenal: What About Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?

In the midst of Summer transfer rumors, Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be the forgotten man. How will Arsenal utilize their promising winger next year, or could he be set for a move away from the Emirates?

Arsenal have a plethora of wingers who have been unable to fulfill their great potential. The most obvious example is Theo Walcott, a player who excited and enthralled with his electric pace as a youngster, but has since angered and frustrated with his poor tough and end product.

Another player who is set down the same winding, aimless path as Walcott is fellow Southampton graduate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, a player whose career seems to be stalling at just the wrong time.

Chamberlain is an undoubtedly talented player. He, like Walcott, possesses great pace, a deliberate nature in his dribbling, he is direct and dangerous, enjoys driving at opposing full backs with speed and precision. However, such talented, like so often with Arsenal youngsters, is being wasted at the expense of the injury table.

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Chamberlain is struggling to get, and more importantly, stay, fit, and it is now threatening his Arsenal career. Arsene Wenger has plenty of talented attacking midfielders to choose from. The aforementioned Walcott still believes he deserves a starting role, Alex Iwobi blossomed into a promising player in the latter months of last season, while Joel Campbell seems to be unable to get on the pitch even though he impresses every time he crosses that white line.

Chamberlain is apart of a talented, and thereby competitive squad, and he must prove his worth is he is to find a consistent role within the side. The right wing position is a weakness in this Arsenal eleven. Neither Theo or Chamberlain can stay fit to lock down the position, and without any further investment, there is a place in the team available.

Unfortunately for Chamberlain, he seems unable to take advantage. Not that that is his fault. It is simply the nature of being an injury prone player, something Wenger and Arsenal must begin to take the blame for.

Such are his injury issues, that he is now fervently being linked away from the club, with rumors suggesting that both champions Leicester City and Liverpool are after his signature. While I would be extremely upset if Arsenal were to sell Chamberlain, there is a building frustration in his lack of development. He is now 22, and should this year should really be a year where his world class potential materializes into world class production, something that he is yet to show.

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Chamberlain needs regular football to do so, and for that, he needs regular fitness, something that has been hard to come by in recent years. However, Wenger is loyal to his players, and I fully expect him to be loyal once again. Nonetheless, Chamberlain is running out of chances, and needs to show serious signs of development this coming year if he is to have a longstanding career with the Gunners.

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