Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looks set to be a man in demand if he leaves Liverpool in the summer, if recent reports are to be believed.
The midfielder’s £120,000-per-week contract at Anfield (FBref) will expire in June, and Fabrizio Romano recently told CaughtOffside that he’s likely to depart as a free agent during the off-season.
While the 29-year-old has been limited to a peripheral role with his current club during 2022/23, featuring for only 471 minutes (Transfermarkt), it seems he won’t be short of suitors during the upcoming transfer window.
Football Insider reported that ‘Southampton, Brighton and Leicester City are all interested in signing Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this summer’.
Seagulls manager Roberto De Zerbi believes the ex-Arsenal man ‘would strengthen the depth of his squad considerably’, and they may have an edge on the other two clubs named with interest.
The report hinted that the Saints and the Foxes could both be hindered by the uncertainty over their Premier League status, with the two clubs involved in a nine-team battle against relegation.
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While Ox’s departure from Liverpool in the summer seems almost inevitable at this point, his next destination could be rather interesting.
Given that Brighton are the best-placed of the three prospective suitors to offer direct competition to the Reds in the top-flight table – the Seagulls are currently level on points with us and have a game in hand – ideally he won’t move to the Amex Stadium.
However, that decision would be out of our hands if – as seems most likely – he becomes a free agent.
If one or both of Southampton or Leicester were to remain in the Premier League, that could make either club a more appealing one for the 29-year-old to join.
The Saints may have a particular allure, considering how they gave him his passageway to senior football as a teenager before his 2011 move to Arsenal.
Ox might have seen injuries hinder his Liverpool career in recent times, but he showed during an excellent first season at Anfield that whoever signs him could be getting a fine addition to their squad.