Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's spell at the club where he started as an academy player was short and sweet, now after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement at Besiktas, he is available on a free transfer.

It has been 14 years since Alex Oxlade Chamberlain left St Mary's for Arsenal, a fee of around £13 million being handed over by the Gunners, good money in those days for a 17 year old with only 36 League games all in League Two to his name, but his 9 goals and 9 assists had alerted Arsenal to his potential.

At the time the player and his agent, back then his father Mark Chamberlain, a former player with an England cap to his name, where happy to stay at St Mary's and sign a new deal, but allegedly when they went in to see then CEO Nicola Cortese towards the end of the promotion season of 2010/11 and put their proposal to him on the table in terms of what they wanted, he rebuffed them saying he would make the offers and not them.

This enraged Mark Chamberlain who had wanted his son to develop at Southampton before moving on and he walked out determined that his son would now move on in the summer as proved the case.

AOC then went on to have a long career firstly at the Emirates and then at Anfield, before leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2023 for Besiktas and the Turkish Super Lig, at the time he was linked with a return to Saints, but the fee of around £6 million for a 29 year old who was injury prone was too much of a gamble for a club just relegated to the Championship.

In hindsight this proved a good decision for Southampton, his two years in Turkey have pretty much followed his career in the Premier League, plagued by injury, in his first season he managed just 20 Super Lig games, 11 in the starting line up and 9 off the bench, scoring 4 goals an an assist.

Last season was a similar story, 14 starts in the Super Lig plus another 4 off the bench saw just a 1 goal return.

So this has led both clubs to reach an agreement to terminate the final year of his contract by mutual consent with Talksport claiming that Besiktas have had to pay him off to the tune of £1.2 million and he has now become a free agent.

This has led to speculation about who he will now join, turning 32 in August and with his track record of injury, it will perhaps deter most Premier League clubs in taking a punt, although there will be some in the lower half of the table who might see it as a chance worth taking.

But his more likely destination could be the Championship and that inevitably has led to Southampton's name being mentioned.

During his time at Saints he was usually employed as a winger, however over the years he has developed as a central midfielder and this is where his experience could be utilised.

He could fill the gap in the middle of the park that may be vacated by Matteus Fernandes, he has the engine to be a box to box midfielder and he has an eye for goal.

Perhaps he is not going to be a 46 game a season player, but used sparingly he could be an asset and give us the true experienced Premier League quality that we need in this department.

Costing us nothing it would be a cheap gamble as was Adam Lallana a year ago, that didn't work out as well as hoped, but that was more about the refusal of Russell Martin & Ivan Juric to pick him than his fitness levels and Lallana was far from the only victim of circumstance in that situation last season.

So in essence if we could get Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on a years contract as we did with Lallana, it could be a relatively cheap option, if we were to pay him basic £25k a week, that is a cost of only £1.3 million over a season, in today's game a gamble worth taking.

What are your thoughts on the situation, give them in the comments section below and vote in our Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Poll here.

All Photos Via Reuters

Jesus_02 added 11:37 - Jul 16 Would be 1.3m thrown down the toilet. I miss the Cortese days the only time we were not a team that rolled over to players, agents and other clubs. 13m wasnt just good money then it was amazing.
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mgprobert added 11:44 - Jul 16 I think the argument for him coming back lost a bit of momentum when you mentioned 'plagued by injury'
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Bowlercow added 11:56 - Jul 16 I don't think his goals came in League 2 Nick His were championship goals and as a free could be worth a punt
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saintmark1976 added 12:44 - Jul 16 No, nothing else needs to be said.
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WestSussexSaint added 12:55 - Jul 16 Saints need to reduce the size of the squad, not keep filling it with journeymen or crocks. Just because Lallana has retired does not mean there has to be a replacement in the “Saints ex prodigy” role.
5

mascott514 added 21:34 - Jul 16 NO- We need an tighter energetic hungry squad, not a Saga Advert
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Waylander added 15:14 - Jul 17 Pay as you play deal
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