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Southampton manager Nigel Adkins is adamant that midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain isn’t going to Arsenal as no bid has been made for the player as of yet. He said that Southampton would look at any offers that came in and consider them with the respect they deserved, but no bids had been lodged and things were at an impasse at the moment.
According to reports, Arsenal had tried to bring Oxlade-Chamberlain to North London in the January transfer window, but the bid failed to materialise and the player remained with The Saints. It is believed that Arsene Wenger is ready to make renewed attempts to sign the player during the summer.
Adkins remains optimistic that the 17 year old will stay on at Southampton however, and insists that Arsenal have not made an official approach yet. He stressed that Alex was feeling comfortable with Southampton and wouldn’t mind staying on next season in the least. Speaking to Sky Sports News, he said-
“We had the same sort of scenario in January, he was going to go but he didn’t,”
“I think it will be interesting when it does materialise, whether it’s Arsenal or whoever starts talking to the football club.
“I had a conversation with Alex last week, he’s been doing a little bit of training, he really loves being at Southampton – it’s as simple as that.
“I think probably there’s conversations going on in the boardroom at Arsenal about players who are going to leave and maybe they would like to target.
“If Arsenal wanted to put a bid in, they’d put a bid in the right manner. This football club will then go and decide what to do with that bid – if it’s offered.”
Chamberlain is one of the hottest young prospects in England at the moment , catching the eye of many top teams with his excellent performances at Southampton. Although he was injured for the last two months of the season, Adkins is convinced that he will be a huge success if he stay on at Southampton. He doesn’t want the midfielder to get ‘lost’ by moving to a club with lots of big players and thus hampering his development. He said-
“We believe he’s very good, he didn’t play for the last two months of the season because he was out injured. We did manage to get him on the pitch for the last half hour of our final game. He is talented and he’s come a long, long way in a very short space of time.
“It’s important he keeps playing football land doesn’t get lost like so many who do get lost, who move onto other clubs and don’t get to do what they want to do. He has a great opportunity at Southampton.”
It remains to be seen whether Arsenal do table a bid for Chamberlain, or he stay on with The Saints for next season.
