Newcastle United are said to be tracking Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
That is the extremely bold claim from Italian publication Calciomercato today.
It’s been a largely tricky time for the English midfielder since leaving Arsenal to go Anfield in 2017.
At one point early on he was looking very effective as part of Jurgen Klopp’s midfield, but a serious knee injury in April 2018 really set him back.
The star would then suffer another knee injury in pre-season last year, causing him to miss four months of last season.
His struggles with injuries have obviously limited his game time, and starts have been hard to come by when he has been back fit.
Calciomercato do not provide any more information about Oxlade-Chamberlain potentially leaving Liverpool. Just that his former club Southampton are also keen.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has featured quite a bit in pre-season for Liverpool, with Klopp saying recently (Liverpool Echo): “Look, I know Ox for so long now it was not necessary to talk.
“It was clear what the thing is – he needed a full pre-season. [The same] for plenty of players. For Taki it was the first pre-season with us properly; it was the first pre-season for a long time with Ox.”
It’s not happening
It seems very bizarre that an Italian publication would make such a claim involving two English clubs and an English player.
That aside, there is an agreement in place for Newcastle to sign Joe Willock.
There is an expectation that that particular deal will get done very soon.
Liverpool lost Gini Wijnaldum recently and have not signed a replacement. It is therefore safe to assume the Reds aren’t looking to lose the 27-year-old this summer.
He supposedly takes home £120,000-a-week at Liverpool, which is another reason Newcastle just wouldn’t go there.
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