Arsenal have reportedly planned negotiations with midfielder Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain over a fresh contract. The England international has just 14 months left on his existing deal at the Emirates.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, 23, has been in-and-out of the Gunners lineup since the start of the campaign, but his performances in the second half of the season have stood out from many of his fellow teammates.
According to The Mail, the north London outfit will shift their focus to the contract situation of Oxlade-Chamberlain with manager Arsene Wenger keen on keeping hold of the club’s British core ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.
The FA Cup semi-finalists have shown keen on extending the deals of star duo Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil this campaign, but it now appears that they have switched the attention elsewhere with the pair reluctant to come down from their staggering wage demands.
Oxlade-Chamberlain who currently earns £65,000-a-week has displayed his versatility playing in the heart of the midfield this season, and his performances have not gone unnoticed with national team boss Gareth Southgate rewarding him with a starting role for the World Cup qualifier against Lithuania last month.
The young attacker is understood to be on the radar of league rivals Liverpool for some while, and it seems that this interest has urged the Gunners’ hierarchy to look into a proposed extension for the former Southampton graduate.
The Ox, as he is commonly dubbed, has earned just 13 league starts for the Gunners this season, and this could yet tempt him to stall on a new deal in order to pursue a Bosman move in a year’s time.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has amassed nearly 200 outings for Arsenal since arriving as a 17-year-old with immense potential from Southampton in the summer of 2011.
