West Ham United are one of the Premier League clubs expected to target a move for Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this summer.
That’s according to former Scotland defender Alan Hutton, who said to Football Insider: “West Ham, Newcastle, Aston Villa, even the likes of Everton and Palace, all these teams are building for the future. They’re building something special as well and why would you not want to be part of that?
“He could be an integral cog for one of these teams moving forward. He’s still got a lot to give, plenty of time. The only question mark is the injuries.”
It was reported by the Daily Mail earlier this month that the midfielder was considering his future with game time at Anfield currently scarce.
However, the Hammers must ensure that they aren’t the club that takes a gamble on the 28-year-old.
West Ham must avoid Oxlade-Chamberlain
With just nine Premier League starts this term, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s season, from a personal point of view, has been pretty uneventful.
Despite his side playing the maximum amount of games possible this season with a quadruple still on the line, the Englishman has played 1,526 minutes of football across 29 appearances, an average of 52.6 minutes per appearance.
In truth, his entire Liverpool tenure has been of mixed fortunes with an impressive start followed by a horrific knee injury that ended up keeping the 28-year-old out of football for 16 months.
It does appear that Oxlade-Chamberlain will have to depart Merseyside in order to boost his playtime, however, David Moyes must avoid being the one who takes a shot on the midfielder.
Should West Ham sign Oxlade-Chamberlain?
The Hammers already have a pretty unbreakable midfield partnership in Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek with the duo making a combined 99 appearances this term.
Even if Rice was to leave this summer amid serious speculation, the Liverpool man wouldn’t be a suitable replacement.
In the Premier League this season, Oxlade-Chamberlain has averaged 31.6 touches a match whilst completing 18.3 passes at an 82% accuracy.
Moreover, defensively the £125k-per-week Englishman provides 0.4 interceptions, 0.9 tackles and 0.3 clearances a game.
As for Rice, the 23-year-old has made 54.5 touches a game whilst completing 54.5 passes at a 92% accuracy as well as making 1.7 interceptions, 2.1 tackles and 1.3 clearances.
West Ham will undoubtedly need recruitment in the middle of the park this summer, especially if Rice is to leave. However, Oxlade-Chamberlain isn’t the answer and the deal would have glimmers of the Hammers’ Jack Wilshere failure a couple of seasons ago.
The former Arsenal midfielder left the Emirates on a free transfer, moving from north London to east in 2018 but made just 19 appearances for the Irons.
Signing Oxlade-Chamberlain would spell nothing but disaster for West Ham given the midfielder’s injury record as well as being below the level of player Hammers supporters would expect to see signed if Rice was to be sold.
