Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has spoken out about his switch to Liverpool from Arsenal and why he chose to join Liverpool over Chelsea.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Ox said that it was really not that difficult for him to make a choice and that Liverpool were always the better option.
When Chamberlain announced that he wanted to leave Arsenal in the summer both Liverpool and Chelsea were in hot pursuit of the midfielder. While at first Chelsea were thought to be the frontrunners in the chase but Chamberlain eventually rejected a £220,000 per week contract in order to join the Merseyside team at a much lower wage rate.
While at first everyone was furious with Alex for making a wrong decision but as he saw it Liverpool were the only team that offered him his preferred role – as a midfielder. Antonio Conte basically wanted Chamberlain as a right-back – the same place that he had been playing for Arsenal for a while now. And he was not really happy with that.
And Klopp, on the other hand, was ready to give Chamberlain a place in midfield just like he wanted.
In the interview he said, “”The first thing was the tough decision to leave Arsenal.
“That was the only thing that was really tough for me and the deliberation but Liverpool was the only option for me in terms of where I thought I would be playing.
“The team and the feel of the whole football club in general just sat right with me.
“I think there are really exciting things to come here and especially with this manager so I felt it was right for me to push to be a part of that. I’m delighted that I finally got the opportunity to.
“It’s very exciting but obviously a bit surreal at the same time.
“When you’re at one club for so many years, you become accustomed to that so any change is a bit weird and odd and difficult at first but looking forward, it’s something that really excites me for sure.”
Liverpool are set to play against Manchester City this weekend in Matchweek 4 of the Premier League but we feel that Klopp will not start with the English International. Part because he does not want to hand a debut to Alex in such a high profile match and part because Klopp will not want to tamper with the midfield that tore apart Arsenal two weeks back.
