Football News

Southampton interested, with Liverpool ‘open’ to sale after failed experiment

Liverpool are “open to offers” for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Southampton are exploring the possibility of bringing the midfielder back to the club, claims a report.

The 27-year-old is under contract at Anfield until June 2023, but his game time was limited last season.

Oxlade-Chamberlain only made 13 Premier League appearances last season, including just two starts. A knee injury meant he did not get going to Christmas time, but his involvement in 2021 was minimal.

West Ham have been linked with the former Arsenal man and now another of his former clubs are interested.

TalkSPORT report that Saints are trying to re-sign Oxlade-Chamberlain on a loan deal.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Liverpool team-mate Takumi Minamino spent the second half of last season on loan at St Mary’s. The outlet claim Saints have enquired again about Minamino as well as Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Southampton are also close to agreeing a deal with Chelsea for striker Armando Broja, 19, on a season’s loan. But they have apparently been given encouragement over a deal to bring Oxlade-Chamberlain back to the club after leaving for Arsenal 10 years ago.

The Sun also report that Saints are keen on the former England man, who Jurgen Klopp has used as a No.9 in pre-season.

Klopp has used the former winger as a central striker in pre-season.

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Oxlade-Chamberlain experiment over

After the friendly with Stuttgart last month the Reds boss said: “Ox you could see in the first few minutes immediately that it is an option [to use him as a striker], definitely. We will see how that goes on.”

The experiment though failed to reap huge dividends with Oxlade-Chamberlain failing to have the impact Klopp would have liked. And  Thursday’s friendly against Bologna saw Oxlade-Chamberlain reinstated to a central midfield role.

Jota and Roberto Firmino were given the task of leading Liverpool’s line in the two friendly games against the Italians.

That may well have signalled the end of Klopp’s experiment. With the reports claiming Liverpool are now ready to offload Oxlade-Chamberlain should an acceptable offer arrive.

Whether a loan deal for such an established player would be given the go ahead by Michael Edwards and Co. is unclear.

READ MORE: Klopp reveals ‘new’ Liverpool star and hints at further late additions

 

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