After bringing the curtain down on six years at Liverpool at the end of the 2022/23 season, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seemingly now knows his next club.
The 29-year-old is leaving Anfield this summer at the end of his contract, and after fellow midfielders Naby Keita and James Milner confirmed transfers to Werder Bremen and Brighton respectively, he also appears to have his future sorted.
Football Insider reported on Thursday morning that Ox ‘has cleared out his locker’ at Anfield and ‘told friends he expects to join Aston Villa’ on 1 July after ‘assessing a vast number of offers from clubs home and abroad’.
This follows on from the same publication claiming earlier this week that the former Arsenal man had been in advanced talks to sign for Unai Emery’s team.
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If Oxlade-Chamberlain’s proposed move to Villa Park goes through, he’ll become the second player this summer to leave Liverpool for another club who finished in the top seven of the most recent Premier League campaign, following on from Milner joining Brighton.
It shows that, while he may have come to a natural crescendo at Anfield, he still has plenty to offer at this level for a team who’ve just enjoyed their highest finish in 13 years and sealed a return to European football for 2023/24.
The 29-year-old would dearly love his first season in the Midlands to turn out something like his inaugural campaign with the Reds, when he was playing probably the best football of his career.
He scored five goals in 42 appearances during a splendid 2017/18 for Liverpool (Transfermarkt) and was in line to make England’s World Cup squad before a serious knee injury in the Champions League semi-finals against Roma ended that dream and sidelined him for a full year.
While he may have only featured sporadically last term, with just 13 outings (five starts) in total, he left Liverpool with these words from Jurgen Klopp ringing in his ears: “Ox is a super guy, an absolutely super guy… It was always a real joy to work with him.” (LFC official website)
His time at Anfield might have slowly faded out rather than ending with a bang, but with him looking set to join an ambitious and upwardly mobile Villa side under Emery, he could still have a thriving Premier League career, and we wish him the best with his next move.