Arsenal appears to be on the brink of solving one of their tenuous contract headaches by getting Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to reject Liverpool’s advances and pen a contract extension rumored to be worth over £100,000 per week, so says Joel Watson of the Daily Star (among other outlets reporting similar news).
Oxlade-Chamberlain, one-fifth of the infamous British Core that signed contract extensions at the same exact time in 2012, is due to see his current deal expire next summer and will not be short of any suitors were he to hit the market without a transfer fee attached. Solving his next contract might be just as important as finding a way to keep Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez in the fold - Ox, after all, comes with that all-too-important Homegrown Player designation.
For Arsenal, keeping current first-team squad members is just as crucial as recruiting in the transfer market this summer, especially as most of the team appeared to gel as a whole the last ten-plus matches of this past season. Oxlade-Chamberlain can be utilized across multiple attacking positions on the pitch, displaying the sort of versatility that Arsene Wenger desires from his players.
If this contract extension rumor comes to fruition, the summer will have most certainly gotten off on the right foot for Arsenal. Let’s hope this bit of news ends up being true.