Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain linked with shock Celtic move as Mikel Arteta quizzed on potential Arsenal transfer

Oxlade-Chamberlain played for Arsenal between 2011 and 2017, before sealing a £35 million move to Liverpool. A Southampton youth product, he is now back in north London, and participated in first-team training in January. He has usually worked with the club's youth sides, but an injury sustained by versatile ace Mikel Merino saw manager Mikel Arteta asked about the prospect of signing Oxlade-Chamberlain on a shock free transfer. He did not rule the prospect out.

He said: "We explore every option.”

He also claimed "we are on it" in regards to signing a replacement for Merino, adding: “And it’s our responsibility, when we are playing for what we are playing, to give ourselves the best opportunity and chance to look at the market, every option, evaluate them, and then make a decision whether we do something, if it’s possible.

“When you lose a big player like this in the squad with four months to go and all the competitions to play for, you need to look.

“And we need to do everything that we possibly can do to see if we have a player that is available, and if we don’t, we keep what we have.

"At this level, especially for four months, you have to bring a player that has the capacity to adapt immediately and impact the team.

“That is not easy, but if it was easy we would not be here. So we need to find solutions and try. We need players because we play every two, three days.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain has explained to The Athletic that it was his idea to work with Arsenal's youngsters.

He said in December: “I spoke to Per (Mertesacker, the former Arsenal defender who is now head of the club’s academy programme).

“I asked him if it would be possible to come and train with the under-21s, and I explained how I thought I could add value as well by working with the young players. Per liked the idea, and then he obviously had to get that signed off internally.”

At the time, Arteta said of his former team-mate: “One of the best characters I met in football. If we can help him and give him the space to get up to speed and the capacity to find a club, it’s a joy. I had the privilege to play with him and, if he is around, he will be a really good role model to have around the team.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain will hope to complete a move soon as he bids to return to top-level professional football. Whether that will be in north London, or north of the border, remains to be seen.

Speaking on his injury setbacks, he revealed he has no regrets: “So much about football is about luck and about timing. I’ve been unlucky getting certain injuries at certain times, but on the flip side, the way I got called up to the first team at Southampton at 16 was lucky. Not long before that, I was (looking like) getting released. Then at 18, I was playing for Arsenal and England.

“Then you get to a certain level, you show signs of — what’s the word? — potential, and a certain expectation gets put on you. And if you don’t hit that expectation by 21, 22, 23, people are like, ‘Oh, he’s not Neymar then’, ‘He’s not hit the heights of (Wayne) Rooney’.

“Could things have gone better at times? Yes. Could I have scored more goals? Yes. Could I have played more games? Yes. Did I have more injuries than I wanted at times? Yes. And I can say there were times where maybe I could have been more pushy or looked to move on (to a new team) earlier when I wasn’t getting as many games as I wanted. But I’ve always done the best I could.

“I feel lucky to have had the career I’ve had because since I left Liverpool, I’ve seen how difficult it can be.”

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