Arsenal cont.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
This one’s extremely unlikely to happen, but if Arsenal did sign Sterling, then his young England team-mate would drop further down the Emirates pecking order. Oxlade-Chamberlain is terrifically talented, arguably on a par with Sterling in this respect, but injuries have seen our starlet overtake him in terms of development. This seems to happen to all Arsenal players though, so we shouldn’t hold it against him, and his ability to play as a central midfielder is also handy. In fact, last January Arsene Wenger called him ‘The new Steven Gerrard’ (via Mirror), so maybe he’d be the perfect player to bring in with our skipper leaving for MLS!
Kieran Gibbs
Probably the least inspiring player in this list, but a sensible option nonetheless. ESPN claimed that we would consider swapping both Walcott and Gibbs for Sterling, though we’re not sure Arsenal would part with both the England internationals. Gibbs would be an improvement on Alberto Moreno right now, and if we signed Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne (linked in the Echo), we’d have both England’s starting fullbacks on our roster. With James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana already on the books – as well as Daniel Sturridge – we’d have half the Three Lions starting line-up!
