Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Chris Smalling Swap Hilariously Misplaced

Arsenal has to figure out what they are doing with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. But I think we can rest assured that swapping him for Chris Smalling is not an option.

I love a good swap rumor. And by good, I mean hilariously false and never going to happen. Thankfully, Arsenal has satiated my need for terrible swap rumors in these past couple of seasons.

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Not that long ago, it was Olivier Giroud being swapped for Gonzalo Higuain – a proposition that still gives me the jollies like none other. Mainly because of the small fortune that the Gunners were supposedly ready to give up along with Giroud in order to land Higuain.

But this newest swap is even more entertaining.

The original idea was that Manchester United were going to drop £30m to bring Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to the Theatre of Dreams.

That, then, by some bizarre morphing, became the idea that Chris Smalling was going to be swapped for the Ox. Apparently someone didn’t get the news that the Gunners interest in Chris Smalling (if it ever existed) ended about summer, 2015.

This swap idea is so hilariously misplaced. The concept is that Arsenal would part with an emerging central midfielder, a position that the Gunner’s currently can’t figure out and a position that the Ox is showing tremendous potential at.

And if you don’t buy that he is a central midfielder, then he is a winger, another position that the Gunners are thinning at.

In exchange for giving up this precious commodity with a very high ceiling, we are in turn going to get a defender at a position that we are remarkably deep at – central defense.

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Wenger dropped a pretty penny on Shkodran Mustafi and he has acclimated to the role incredibly well. While he hasn’t been the same as he was before the injury, there is no reason to doubt that he won’t get back there.

And next to him is Laurent Koscielny, reliability incarnate.

If you want to keep digging, behind them we have a very capable Gabriel Paulista who could probably be starting now if his communication was a bit more toned and if Koscielny wasn’t there.

Then there is Rob Holding, the youngster who probably could have held down the role pretty well had Mustafi not even arrived.

And Calum Chambers will be back as well and he has been a huge part of the most surprisingly stout defense in England over at Boro.

So what exactly are we supposed to do with Chris Smalling? He has not found consistent time with United and if he isn’t good enough for a sixth place team, why would he be good enough for Arsenal?

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There was a time where I loved the idea of Smalling coming over and being the defensive version of Danny Welbeck, but that time has past. And at the cost of losing the Ox? Not a chance.

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