Leaving Liverpool after £35m deal was 'really hard' - but now I'm thriving in Turkish Super League
A former Southampton wonderkid is making waves in the Turkish Super Liga in a huge career redemption
You have to cast your mind all the way back, to a time before Alan Pardew’s dancing in the FA Cup final, David Cameron’s government and even Little Mix’s X Factor win, to remember Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first team debut. Yet, at 31, the midfielder still has plenty of professional years still in him, which sums up just how young the Portsmouth-born midfielder was when he first burst onto the scene.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, the son of eight-time England international Mark, was always on a trajectory to becoming an athlete. He played rugby union as a scrum-half or full-back and nearly chose that sport over football when he was offered a trial at London Irish. He even had a chance to become a professional cricketer, but turned down trials to become a wicket keeper with Hampshire, because it conflicted with his youth footballing duties.
It was clear that ‘The Ox’ was a versatile talent at a young age, just a few years on from the debuts of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Adam Lallana. Southampton fans were already raving about his potential when he made his debut under Alan Pardew at 16 years and 199 days, just a few days less than the club’s youngster ever debutant, Walcott.
“I gave him his debut at 16. I don't give many people debuts at that age but he just stood out as one who was going to be an amazing player. "He's not only going to be a good advert for English football in terms of his ability, but he'll be a great ambassador for the country." Said Pardew in 2012 when reflecting on his time working with the midfielder.
Oxlade-Chamberlain only got to play a handful of games during the Pardew era, as they just missed out on the play-offs despite having a 10-point deduction. However, a year later under Nigel Adkins, as the club clinched the first of two back-to-back promotions, they would start to see just what the hype was about - the then 17-year-old registered an encouraging nine goals and nine assists in 34 appearances, while making the League One Team of the Season.
His form quickly earned him a move to Arsenal for £15m plus add-ons and within a year of playing under Arsene Wenger, he was on the radar of the England senior national team, in the run-up to Euro 2012.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s rise to prominence
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s versatility and talent made him a standout performer in a number of sports and also helped him to reach the top-flight as a professional, but the one down side to his Swiss Army knife-like ability was it often meant that he, particularly as a youngster, struggled to find a settled position in the Arsenal side.
He played a total of 198 matches in six full season in north London, scoring 20 times and providing 27 assists as his side won three FA Cups, while notably winning the Man of the Match in his final semi-final appearance for the Gunners, against Manchester City in a new wing-back role.
His Arsenal career was certainly a success, but it was at Liverpool after his £35m transfer in 2017 that most football experts would say he played his best football.
Oxlade-Chamberlain settled seamlessly into the Liverpool team in year one, with 45 appearances across all competitions all while playing a fundamental role in the team’s journey to a first Champions League final since 2007. He notably scored against the centurions in the quarter-final in the contest, and in the league ended their unbeaten streak with a match-winning strike in a 4-3 victory in January.
He looked nailed on for a spot in the 2018 World Cup, but struggled to hit quite the same heights again when he picked up a knee injury which made him miss the entirety of the following season.
Oxlade-Chamberlain would play just five more games for England after that injury and though he enjoyed another solid season during the 2019/20 season, as the team lifted the league title, recurring injuries after that point limited him to being a peripheral player in future squads with his role in that first title-winning season perhaps being overlooked by fans outside of Anfield.
By the time his exit came around at the expiry of his contract in 2023, aged just 29, it all felt a little hollow. Roberto Firmino and 37-year-old James Milner were both beaming ear to ear, as they secured moves to Saudi Arabia and Brighton respectively, but the future appeared much more foggy when it came to Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Opening up about his exit, he told Sky Sports: “I think they (team-mates and staff) were the reason why when it came to leaving, that was what made it really hard, leaving so many really good people. I still speak to a lot of them now and still feel like I'm almost a part of that group, even though, of course, I'm not.”
From being frozen out to a redemption under Ole Gunnar-Solskajer
After leaving Liverpool, Oxlade-Chamberlain took on a whole new challenge of moving to the Turkish capital to join Besiktas. He enjoyed a solid start with four goals in 20 appearances, but has endured a difficult time with injuries - and has notably had little stability with the team having nine different managers in total in just two seasons.
After missing the last four months of last season with injury, the former England ace was frozen out by the club’s general secretary, Kaan Sakul, who publicly announced in September that the player would be cut from the club’s Europa League group-stage squad, revealing ‘he was the first name to go.’ To make matters worse, Giovanni Van Bronkhorst, club manager until November, refused to give him single minute of action.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s career looked to be on a downwards trajectory that has impacted another of England’s former wonderkids including Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard and Theo Walcott. However, things are once again on the up for the former Liverpool playmaker after the arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskajer after the Norwegian's three-year hiatus from management.
Speaking to the Guardian, Solskajer explained: “These months here have been brilliant,” Solskjær said last week. “What we’ve started building really excites me. It feels like a proper family. We’re getting closer by the day. There’s belief, there’s passion. Of course, there’ll be bumps in the road – we’ll take a few punches to the face. That’s football. All I ask from the fans is to keep backing us like they always do.”
Besiktas have risen to fourth in the league under Solskjaer, winning eight of his 13 games in charge, and reintegrating Oxlade-Chamberlain into the team as a midfield conductor in a more fluid possession based system.
Talk of a return to England had intensified in the winter months, but journalist Graeme Bailey now expects the Southampton academy graduate to remain in Turkey. He explained: "I understand that with Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] going in there, a player he likes. He was a bit out of the picture earlier this season. But Solskjaer doesn’t want to lose him. It’s one of those where a new manager has come in, likes him a lot. He might have been an option, but not now. He could be an option [for Leeds] in the summer but it depends.”