Arsenal Confirm Interest In £10m Southampton Prodigy

Chris Wright

24th, January 2011

13 Comments

By Chris Wright

After several weeks of mounting conjecture, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has finally confirmed that he is indeed interested in striking a deal with Southampton over prodigious 17-year-old forward Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – who is currently valued by the League One side at a whopping £10 million.

So said Wenger:

“We will try [to complete a deal] now. We need an agreement with Southampton.

“We need an agreement with the player, and we are not the only ones on the case – but we try as hard as we can, as I like him as a player.”

Both Manchester United and Liverpool are also be tailing Oxlade-Chamberlain, but the player’s father, Mark (of Stoke, Portsmouth and – briefly – England fame), has backed Arsenal’s bid – singling out the Emirates creche as his son’s preferred destination, telling Sky Sports News:

“Arsenal, with the manager there, the way they play and how they develop players, I think they are the ideal choice.

“Alexander is coping very well as it’s all speculation at the minute. It’s the time of the year when things do happen though, I think if anything is happening then [Southampton] will keep us notified.”

Can’t quite envisage £10 million changing hands, but I do got a hankering that a deal may just go through before the end of the month – perhaps with Oxlade-Chamberlain being loaned back to the Saints until the summer.

Any thoughts peeps?

Posted in Arsenal, Transfers & Rumours

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13 Comments

  1. miki says:

    Your mom is stealing!

  2. Grumpy Guts says:

    Just what Arsenal need, another midfielder.

  3. romfordray says:

    Usually when AW comes out and makes a statement like that one can be rest assured that the deal has already been done. AW keeps his cards close to his chest and speaks only when a deal is imminent/has been ironed out. But 10 million for another forward/winger when we need a solid cover for Song and also in the back does not make sense to me. This is the Arsenal way though. Buy talent and forget need. At a minimum, the club will stay profitable and if things work out, we will win something.

  4. charles muriuki says:

    we need that man so mush wenger try to spend somemoney

  5. Olarotimi A. A. says:

    To be frank with ourself(all gunner supporters) we are overdue, this is what we need (new and young midfieders and strikers). I think Winger shoul continue with the negotiation.

  6. nkhosi says:

    We neen such player now or never

  7. DOOLEY says:

    GREAT IF A.W. BUYS PLAYER FROM SOUTHAMPTON.GOOD THINKING.WE STILL NEED COVER ‘DEFENCE’ LIKE SONG AND A 1ST CLASS GOALKEEPER ALMUNIA SHOULD BE SOLD.LASTLY ANOTHER CENTRAL DEFENSIVE BACK I DREAMED ARSENAL WILL WIN 3 CUPS …..I WOULD BE HAPPY WITH 2.GIVE ARSHAVIN TIME HE WILL BE AT HIS BEST VERY SOON.

  8. Dapo says:

    We need a defender not another bloody midfielder when we already have so much competition for midfield positions.

  9. sjnhasan says:

    ARSHAVIN SEEMS TO HAVE REACHED TO END OF THE ROAD TO FOLLOW ALMUNIA AND DENILSON IS NOT SURPRISING THAT ARSENE WENGER LOOK FOR THEIR REPLACEMENT AND THE FACT THE FATHER CHAMBLAIN IS CLEAR THAT THE PURCHASE AGREEMENT HAS BEEN MADE

  10. Benson Ugen says:

    Football is business, Arsene Wenger, should be congratulated, in his youth development programme so far, the landing of another valuable striker will add value to the club, in another 2-4 years the market value of this boy will be in the region of 25-30 or even more million pounds. So what are we talking?
    While, there is urgent need for additional central defender, the Manager should be encouraged to do business, if there is value in the market he will surely, go for it. There are no quality available now. Check it out.

  11. albert says:

    i don’t have a problem with wenger signing more youngsters, but the epl is a strong league, so wenger must make sure the youngsters he buys have skill and also lots of STRENGTH and BODY BALANCE.LONG LIVE ARSENAL.this season is ours.

  12. aidan296 says:

    i like the way we play it adds fire to are way of playing wenger says best form of defence is attack he has not been wrong so far and winning trophys will now start to happen.up the gooners

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