The Ox sold to Liverpool

Well, it looks like Arsenal has finally decided to part ways with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with reports from both David Ornstein and Melissa Reddy indicating that the club has agreed to sell him to Liverpool. The exact terms of the deal are unclear but it appears Arsenal managed to fleece Liverpool out of somewhere between 35 and 40 million pounds for Ox.

And frankly, good riddance to him. Though a promising youth, Ox never consistently played above average for Arsenal, and was clearly refusing to sign a new contract with just one year left on his deal. Wenger, out of some odd desire to appease him and shoehorn him into the starting XI, made baffling lineup decisions like leaving new signing Sead Kolašinac on the bench and playing Héctor Bellerín, which certainly contributed to Arsenal’s disastrous start to the season so far.

Plus, Ox has apparently been insistent on playing in central midfield—Ornstein cites this desire as a reason the seemingly imminent Ox-to-Chelsea move fell through—and there just wasn’t a spot for him there at Arsenal. Although given Liverpool’s display this past weekend, I’m not sure there’s a spot for Ox in central midfield there either.

Now, at the very least, some semblance of rationality should return to Arsenal’s starting lineups, with Kolasinac and Bellerín hopefully returning to their natural positions. And Arsenal even managed to get a nice sum of money out of the arrangement, although given the current state of the club it might be most useful just to light that pile of cash on fire in the middle of Ashburton Grove.

Anyways, Ox, since I know you’re reading this, here’s a parting message from all of us at The Short Fuse: