Blue Ox Chelsea close in on £35m Arsenal player
Chelsea are growing increasingly optimistic that they will sign Alex Oxlade-chamberlain before the transfer window shuts, despite Arsenal making a huge £180,000-aweek offer that would place the England midfielder among their highest earners.
Manager Arsene Wenger has also told Oxlade-chamberlain that he has a “responsibility” to Arsenal after being nurtured by the club since joining from Southampton at the age of 17 and said that he was now ready to become one of the main pillars of the team.
Arsenal, though, fear that he will turn down the latest offer after telling Wenger that he will not sign a new deal and, as reported by The Daily Telegraph, Chelsea have launched a £35million bid.
Oxlade-chamberlain met with Wenger yesterday and was offered the chance to more than double his wages to a package worth around £180,000 a week. With Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil also prevaricating on even bigger offers, that would place him behind only Alexandre Lacazette on the club’s current wage structure. Arsenal will clearly feel that this is a very competitive offer given Oxladechamberlain has scored nine goals in his 130 Premier League appearances and only forced his way into the starting XI over the past year.
Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte is pushing the club’s bid to sign Oxlade-chamberlain, who can play at wing-back, in central midfield or on the wing. That versatility, along with his home-grown status, is particularly appealing to the Italian.
Wenger, though, has not given up hope over persuading him to commit. “I want him to stay and be one of the big players of the future of this club,” he said. “He is one of the players this team has to be built around. I want him to commit to the club and to be one of the carrier of the values of our team.
“I think we invested a lot of time, confidence and money on players like Alex, who we bought at a young age.
“For me, they have a responsibility for the future of this club because Alex Oxlade-chamberlain will be one of the big English players in the coming years. I personally am highly determined to keep him here.”
Chelsea want to complete a £100m treble before the transfer window shuts by signing Oxladechamberlain, Danny Drinkwater from Leicester City and Everton’s Ross Barkley.
Wenger also conceded defeat yesterday in his attempt to sign Thomas Lemar from Monaco but refused to rule out the departure of centre-back Shkodran Mustafi over the next week.