Encouraging news from the Evening Standard’s James Olley this morning, as Chelsea have apparently “received sufficient encouragement to believe a transfer is possible” even though we’re talking about two London rivals making a deal.
⚪️ Chelsea closing in on £35m Oxlade-Chamberlain as reluctant Wenger considers sale | ✍️ @JamesOlley https://t.co/oLQmdLz5ir
— Standard Sport (@standardsport) August 14, 2017
The report points out that while Arsene Wenger has been adamant about not selling Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, he’s made nowhere near the same reassurances about Oxlade-Chamberlain, who also only has one year left on his contract and has rejected Arsenal’s latest contract offer. Though, presumably, the actual encouragement that Chelsea have received is a bit more solid than that.
With Arsenal facing the exact opposite conundrum that Chelsea are, namely that they have too many players in the squad, they are looking to sell a few. The Ox, still just 23 and versatile enough to fill in at both wing-back and central midfield, is not an immediately obvious candidate for a ticket out of the Emirates, but Chelsea’s £35m could punch one for him anyway.
Chelsea are in increasingly desperate need of a few signings, and we could certainly do worse than the homegrown Oxlade-Chamberlain. Let’s get this done, shall we?