Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Capstone On Crumbling Legacy

Arsenal were expected to lose Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, but to lose Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is to collapse the entire roof on Arsene Wenger’s house.

Superstars come and go. That’s always sort of been their thing. Very rarely do they stick around at one club. They want to go wherever they can get better and win more. So knowing that Arsenal might lose Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez isn’t necessarily shocking.

But the emerging rumors that Alex Oxalde-Chamberlain may skedaddle as well are shocking. Not because he has a lacking motive, but because of the impact this would have on the overall structure that Wenger has built here at Arsenal.

The Ox was signed to North London with more hype than anyone in recent memory. He had all the tools of a budding superstar and had the ambition to become then next big thing. He was going to be Theo Walcott, but bigger, stronger and actually reliable.

It was, therefore, rather unfortunate when the Ox started going down the same path as Walcott before him. Injuries and a lack of consistent playing time continually got in the way and before we knew it, he was 24 years old, his time as a prospect was over, and other than a few glimpses, we had no greater indication of what he could be.

Constant claims of being a true central midfielder were overshadowed by Wenger continuously playing him out wide.

Now, in the second half of this catastrophic season, the Ox has been forced into a central position and he has been superb. It all came to a climax against Bayern Munich when he was one of the best men on the pitch on either side.

The Ox did everything he was always supposed to do.

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And now he supposedly wants to leave, as he feels this bit of impromptu time in his preferred position is too little too late.

It’s no shock that in the midst of his best year ever, with nowhere to go but up, that he still can’t seem to get the attention he deserves in the center of the pitch.

Hard to blame him. Even with him performing so well, he is still going to get shoved to the side for Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and whoever else Wenger sees fit to give a central role other than the man that has earned it.

The Ox leaving would pull a key capstone out of the structure that Wenger has built. Le Prof has consistently avoided superstars to build his own and none of them have panned out. Jack Wilshere is off at Bournemouth, Ramsey can’t get the freedom he needs and Theo Walcott is beyond saving.

The Ox was the best chance and he was starting to show glimmers of emerging as a trophy for Wenger; a real success story. It was someone that was Arsenal through and through, stuck with the club through thick and thin, and could have brought about a true change, much like Wilshere could have.

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Yanking that away from Arsenal just as it was coming to fruition would tear asunder the legacy of the second half of Wenger’s career in North London.

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