Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sale compounds on confusion

Arsenal are set to sell Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Chelsea, which is bad enough, but the confusion around the move is only compounding.

Rumors can be annoying little things, but when sources like SkySports and BBC Sport are reporting it, it’s time to get on board and accept it as reality. And as the SkySports report prompted my earlier article about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain adding his name to the list of Arsenal disgraces, this one has more to do with the sub-sequential “what the f&ck” that follows.

First of all, I still don’t understand at what point the Ox had this supreme falling out with Arsenal, where it was so bad that he didn’t even want to work for the club anymore. Literally. Watching him against Liverpool, I just didn’t understand.

I was put off by the early summer report that the club wouldn’t given him first team assurances, but that was never confirmed, and more reports have reinforced just how much the Gunners were willing to pay him while he was having fantasies about Chelsea and Liverpool.

That isn’t where the crux of my confusion comes from though. The confusion I have stems from just why the hell he was out there against Liverpool in the first place. Did he have some clause in his contract saying that if we beat Liverpool, he’d want to stay? Because it didn’t look like he wanted to be out there from the start.

Rather, why wasn’t Sead Kolasinac out there? The Bosnian Tank can be an angel to this club’s misfortunes if they’d just allow him to be.

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All preseason and in the FA Community Shield and against Leicester City, he was simply phenomenal, despite being played out of position more times than not. His effort alone is worth the start over someone like the Ox who was going to leave anyway.

This is what I don’t get. Arsene Wenger resolutely declares that 100%, Oxlade-Chamberlain will stay. Then we lose to Liverpool and all of a sudden that is out the window and we sell him to Chelsea. Meanwhile we blew a massive match at Anfield.

I’m all about this sale. But if it was going to happen, as Shkodran Mustafi‘s appears to (inexplicably) be, then why was he out there when more (and better) options were available?

At least now that he is gone, we can move on with the man that should be out there and promote Reiss Nelson, who could be a massive super sub going forward.

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That is, if Arsene Wenger doesn’t overthink himself, as he is so prone to do.

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