One name that is appearing in the news quite often this season is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the 17 year old Southampton attacking midfielder is making waves in English football and is linked with a move to Anfield.
Dubbed as the new Theo Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain may be the first piece of the Daliglis’s puzzle in his second spell at the club.
Oxlade-Chamberlain rose through the ranks at Southampton youth academy and was only promoted to the first team earlier this season but since then he has cemented his place in the side and has popped up with some important goals as well.
A reported fee of 10 million is presumed to be his market value and Livberpool are looking to be more than happy to fork out the amount. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is the product of Southampton youth academy that has in the past produced gems like Matt Le
Tissier, Alan Shearer and Theo Walcott along with the hottest commodity in world football these days, Gareth Bale.
Alex joined the Southampton youth academy in 2000 at the tender age of 7 and after a successful trial he was inducted into the academy. Although yearly signs were promising but it took several years for the youngster to play his first game for the youth
team. He is the son of former England international Mark Chamberlain, who was also the couch of the Southampton team at that time.
Oxlade-Chamberlain broke through the ranks last year while playing for the Southampton under 18s and made his first competitive start for the team in the Carling Cup game against Bournemouth last year when he marked his debut with a tantalizing goal.
In August last year, shortly after his 17th birthday he signed his first professional contract with the South Coast side and it was a three year contract. The attacker has played most of his career as a central attacking midfielder but last year
his coach switched him to a wider position where he has excelled, scoring six goals in the season.
The youngster possesses devastating pace and also has the ability to dribble past defenders and is not afraid of doing so giving rise to his comparisons with Theo Walcott. However the youngster believes that he was only switched to a wider position in his
team as he did not have the physical power to play in a central role.
Southampton are currently seoncd in league one and the youngster has played an important role in their success this season and has been among the goals and assist often this season. He must be given credit for given for breaking and holding on to his position
in a Southampton midfield that has a very strong midfield.
Southampton as a club has a history of producing electric paced wingers with Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale being the most recent successes.
At Liverpool he may not be drafted into the squad directly but if signed he will be playing a bit part role for Kenny Dalglish’s side that has struggled miserably this season.
Theo Walcott was also linked to a move to Emirates but he chose to sign for Arsene Wenger’s side as Liverpool did not have the necessary finances to go ahead with the fees that Walcott’s club were demanding at that time.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is a sublime talent and there is no doubt about it but the fact remains that his talent and skill needs to be nurtured properly or we can have another Ricardo Quaresma on our hands, a player that was compared to Maradonna but could not
be nurtured properly.