Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in different league to Nemanja Matic

Per journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Arsenal are pursuing Nemanja Matic in a swap deal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The Ox, though, is in a different league to his Chelsea counterpart, and the Gunners would be mad to entertain such an idea.

Given that we are in peak transfer season, there are a growing number of rather ambitious, almost naive rumours beginning to make the rounds. Unfortunately, being the frustrated, disappointed fanbase that we are, it is often Arsenal that are at the heart of these ridiculous rumours, with media companies trying to play on the desperation of the fans to latch onto anything remotely positive.

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That is most certainly the case with the latest report regarding Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and his future. Per Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Chamberlain, who has just one year remaining on his contract and has been the subject of interest from Chelsea, is a part of a swap deal including towering midfielder Nemanja Matic.

The report claims that Arsene Wenger has resigned himself to losing Chamberlain, given the midfielder’s insistence that he wants to be a featured player in the squad, entrusted with responsibilities that his talent demands, something that Wenger cannot, for some absurd, reason offer at the Emirates.

There are many flaws to this report. The first is that Wenger has resigned himself to losing Chamberlain. He is notoriously defiant in the selling of his players, especially those who have benefitted from his investment at a young age, and will not want him to leave without fighting for his services, and is a huge admirer of Chamberlain’s talents, seeing him as the future cornerstone piece of his Arsenal team.

The second is the likelihood of a swap deal being completed. They are extremely difficult to force through because of the number of moving parts, with just one needing to fail to scupper the success of the whole deal, and, subsequently, they are extremely rare.

Having said all that, I would be furious if Arsenal swapped Chamberlain for Matic, and that is not because I do not see Matic as a player that would add a much-needed element of physicality to the midfield. Rather, Chamberlain’s potential is such that allowing him to leave for a good Premier League player who is already 28 is nonsensical.

Chamberlain has all the athletic and technical tools to be a truly elite player. He is viciously quick and powerful, making surging runs from midfield with and without the ball, he is intelligent in his movement and his decision making, and his distribution, end-product, passing range and all-round ball retention is improving every time he takes to the pitch.

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Chamberlain is a player with the arrow pointing up. Way up. Matic is at the peak of his powers. It is not that he, in a vacuum, would be a bad signing. But, as a prospect, he is not in the same league as Chamberlain. Arsenal would be as silly as the report in the first place to ever suggest such a deal.