Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Ambition May Cause Familiar Problems

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has stated of his ambition to achieve domestic and international success, causing familiar problems for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.

When Mesut Ozil signed for Arsenal in the summer of 2013, he revealed two major aspects in convincing him to join the North London outfit. The first was the presence of Arsene Wenger. The second was the matching of his ambition that Wenger and the club showed.

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When Alexis Sanchez was signed just a year later, the very same reasons were proposed for him joining the club. It was, for both those players, expected that the club would proceed to invest heavily in the playing squad to match their personal and collective ambitions.

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And now Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is echoing the same chorus of ambition. Asked initially about whether he sees his future at North London amid intense rumour linking him with a move away, with Liverpool touted as a possible destination, and his contract dwindling to just one year remaining from the end of the season, Chamberlain shifted his answer’s intentions, pointing it towards the ambitions that he has, both domestically at the Emirates and internationally with England and an upcoming World Cup:

"“My personal ambitions are always to play as well as I can and be as professional as I can for Arsenal and obviously stay in and around the England squad as well. That’s no easy feat, we’ve got a lot of good, young players coming through at the moment and competition for places is high, and with the World Cup coming up next year that’ll be in the back of everyone’s mind. For me, as an attacker, it’s scoring and creating goals and helping the team to win, so I’ll just be focused on doing that as well as I can for my club.”"

It is a worryingly similar occurrence to the disgruntled feel of Ozil and Sanchez. Arsenal players are becoming more ambitious than Arsenal. And that, as the future of Wenger continues to be an uncertain cloud that hangs over every decision to be made, is a concerning, almost terrifying, statement.

All three – Ozil, Sanchez and Chamberlain – enter the summer with just one year remaining on their current deals. And all three will be wanted by many other clubs across the continent. If the Gunners cannot match their winning desires, then why should they not look to force a move while they hold all the power at the negotiating table?

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What is especially frightening is the familiarity of this problem. That means that it is regular. And having players wanting to leave the club because they believe that they have a greater chance of achieving their goals elsewhere is never a good sign. When it’s regular, then it becomes a damnation of Wenger and the club.